Rarest, Most Expensive ‘Sgt. Pepper’?

Posted on April 27, 2025 by beatlesblogger

I’m sure most of us have at least a couple of copies of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in our collections – either on CD, LP, cassette, or all three!

But an email today from the folks at eil.com (the UK purveyor of premium quality rare used and new vinyl) got us wondering about which pressing of this LP is the most valuable?

eil.com is currently offering for sale an unusual Nimbus Records “Supercut” edition of the Pepper LP. They say it was “….pressed exclusively for readers of Practical Hi-Fi and Hi-Fi Today magazine by Nimbus, with ‘Nimbus England’ machine stamped in the run-outs. Limited to 1000 copies only, the Nimbus Supercut of Sgt. Pepper has since gained legendary status within audiophile circles and is arguably the most sought after Nimbus title on the market today”.

The asking price? £3,995.00 (AUD$8,309).

And that sounds about right, because there’s another for sale on the Discogs site for the same money.

But what about the very famous (and equally rare) Australian “Audiophile” pressing?

This came into existence when EMI Australia decided to try their hand at half-speed mastering for a reissue series. The LP never went on sale in regular record stores, but was made exclusively available to the public at the Sydney Hi-Fi and Audio Show in July 1983. Just 497 numbered copies were released with unique label artwork, mirroring the black and silver one EMI box Parlophone labels of 1969, and housed inside a single pocket picture cover with AUDIOPHILE designated on the back. Each LP had an individually numbered sticker fixed to the top right corner of the back cover.

There are currently none for sale on Discogs, but the highest price paid in the past was £2,640 (AUD$5,500). For more on this release see the very good Australian Beatle record collector page I Am The Platypus, and if you want to see a nice story about the tapes used for this pressing, check out this YouTube video:

Of course authentically autographed copies of this LP will always sell for big $$$. Take this one with all four Beatle signatures on it’s gatefold inner. We reported way back in 2013 it had sold for an incredible US$290,500.

But probably the doozy with the biggest difference on the cover of the LP is the very rare “Capital Records executives” copy. In a nutshell, a bunch of top guys at Capitol officially had their faces inserted onto the iconic front image for a very limited edition of Sgt. Pepper’s. It’s estimated that only 40-50 copies of this record exist. The covers were printed up and distributed at a Capitol Sales Executive meeting held in Florida in late 1967:

We first wrote about this in 2009. And see our article here for more background on this one.

Beatles – The UK vs. The US Albums Chart

Posted on December 5, 2024 by beatlesblogger

Been looking for information on just how the six newly-reissued Beatles 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono LPs were originally compiled back in the day by Capitol Records?

For those who like a visual to help take in complex information, this chart is a fantastic resource showing exactly which songs from the original UK albums were used to create the records that Capitol produced for US audiences. It’s like a Beatles Parlophone/Capitol family tree!

(click on image to see a larger version, or download below)

The chart was created by a fan named Jared Pike who runs a site called Beatles Medleys + Mashups

Thanks to Jared, you can download the complete chart for yourself:

The Beatles UK vs. US Albums (PDF)

The Beatles UK vs. US Albums (JPG, 7200×14400)

The Beatles UK vs. US Albums (JPG, 2000×4000)

Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono – More

Posted on September 14, 2024 by beatlesblogger

The Beatles Official site now has all the details about the November 22 release of the 8LP The Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono box set, as well as the six LPs available individually.

There’s also a very interesting “behind the scenes” video doing the rounds with mastering engineer Kevin Reeves who cut the records at Nashville’s East Iris Studios, and Pat Kraus, Senior VP Recording Studios & Archives at UMG:

Details are also emerging of some stores getting an “exclusive” blue vinyl version of Meet The Beatles. So far these include Target in the US, Sunrise Records in Canada, HMV in the UK, the jpc chain in Germany, and FNAC stores in Belgium and France. Gotta admit it looks kind of cool:

And Andrew, over at the very good Parlogram YouTube channel, has made this handy introduction/explainer as to what these latest releases from Apple are all about:

Capitol 75 and the Elusive 2017 Reissue Series

Posted on December 4, 2017 by beatlesblogger

Late last year Capitol Records announced an ambitious range of projects to take place across 2017 in celebration of its 75th anniversary producing, releasing and distributing music.

Principle among its plans was to be the release on vinyl of 75 titles from their vast catalogue that best represented the wealth of talent signed to, or associated with Capitol over the last 75 years.

The label convened an advisory board to decide on the final list of albums, and of course amongst them were a number of titles of interest to Beatle and solo-Beatle record collectors and readers of beatlesblogger.com.

Despite the fact that the year is just about done, it seems that there have not been any/many of the five Beatle titles on the list released as yet – at least from what we can tell. Nor has the John Lennon Imagine album, George Harrison’s All Thing Must Pass, or Wings Band on the Run shown up anywhere identified as part of the celebrations.

According to the press release, the US store Crate and Barrel is the main outlet and you can see they initially did have a few titles listed via their online store – some with a “Celebrating 75 Years of Capitol’s Music” logo on their front covers, some without). When we looked there were seventeen titles on their page – still far away from the seventy-five total. Subsequent searches failed to turn up ANY vinyl records or albums – so it looks like Crate and Barrel might have got out of the music business…..

Meanwhile, Amazon in October listed a 2017 re-issue of James Taylor’s eponymous 1968 Apple Records release, James Taylor – and this is one of the titles on the Capitol 75 list too:The front cover image Amazon shows doesn’t have any “Celebrating 75 Years of Capitol’s Music” logo or sticker, but the rear clearly shows it to be an Apple/Capitol/Universal Music release. Look below the bar code:

(Double click the image for a larger version)

Just by the way, according to The Daily Beatle site there is a problem with the pressing of this record. Side Two should have a song called ‘Brighten Your Night With My Day’. It is listed on the label, but is not present when you play the LP! Maybe that’s why when we ordered a copy for our collection, Amazon is saying they cannot give an exact delivery date. Maybe all copies have been withdrawn and corrected pressings are being prepared?

Still over at Amazon, a pre-order listing has appeared for Ringo Starr’s Ringo LP. This album is also on the Capitol 75 list, and the image below seems to have a Capitol 75th Anniversary identifier on the front cover (though we are not sure if this is genuine or has been photoshopped in by someone else):Amazon says that Ringo will be released on January 19, 2018.

Curiously, Amazon is listing Goodnight Vienna for a January 19 release as well, but this title does not appear on the Capitol 75 list……not sure what is going on there.

McCartney ‘Archive Collection’ Coloured Vinyl – Confusion Reigns

Posted on October 11, 2017 by beatlesblogger

Five days on from the official announcement on the Paul McCartney website that there are to be eight titles in the McCartney Archive Collection series re-issued as single discs on the Capitol label (on CD, black vinyl and limited coloured vinyl), confusion reigns about just how anyone can actually order the coloured vinyl.

Both McCartney’s own site, and the Universal Music store site included links to order these but by the weekend both had been quickly taken down. The Universal link is just dead (and again here), while the official McCartney links for each album have since been altered and only take you through to the US Amazon site where there is no mention of the coloured vinyl whatsoever. The links are clearly for the black vinyl editions only.

Many online stores over the weekend quickly put up their own images and prices – both for individual coloured LPs and bundles – but these too have since been either completely taken down (for example SoundStage Direct in the US), or now carry an apology (for example the Bull Moose store) stating that they’ve been asked by the artist and the label NOT to sell these titles online.

To quote collectors on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums thread, many of whom have preordered and paid their money before the links just disappeared:

“Seriously, what a mess. I was actually stoked about this. Now i can see it’s probably not going to be easy…..”.

and:

“Yes I’m worried about sites filling the orders. If the link was pulled from Paul’s site on the official announcement then I would worry about them being filled at any other site [too]. I have them pre ordered thru the link that was on his site and even thru that I’m worried I won’t get them. They seem very limited and none of the sites seem to be able to confirm they will honor the pre orders.”

It has to be said that this looks like a complete and utter stuff up my MPL and Capitol. They’ve gone into print and raised expectations, but they haven’t thought through what they were publicising, nor communicated how fans and collectors could get their hands on these eight coloured vinyl editions. Pretty bad form and does not auger well for the McCartney/Capitol/UMe relationship.

UPDATE: This just in from the Record Store Day site: Indie record stores are the ONLY physical retailers in the US to have the limited edition colored vinyl versions…..

“Great Record Labels” Book

Posted on November 12, 2016 by beatlesblogger

Chanced upon a small local garage sale (or yard sale) this morning and found this book:

Great Record Labels, written by Al Cimino and published by Chartwell Books in 1992, is quite an interesting overview of some of the most famous record companies, admittedly with a strong US bias. It has some really good images liberally scattered throughout, not only of the various record company labels themselves, but also many of the artists signed to the labels too.

Cimino has split his book into five broad categories covering music from the 1950’s through to the 1990’s. He starts with Sun Records in the Fifties, and ends with Def Jam in the Nineties, and works his way through most of the big labels in between – like Atlantic, Stax, Motown, Decca, A&M, CBS, Warner Brothers, Island, and Virgin – to name but a few.

There are two main segments of the book where The Beatles pop up. First is the chapter on the British EMI/Parlophone label:

In the section on EMI’s US subsidiary Capitol Records there is only fleeting reference to The Beatles, despite the huge amounts of money they made for the company:

But to make up for that there’s no less than four pages dedicated to The Beatles’ own Apple Records:

Here’s the rear cover of Great Record Labels (the dust cover has seen better days…):Despite being a little beat up, this is a nice little find and a good book to have in the collection.

Paul McCartney Back with Capitol Records Again

Posted on August 18, 2016 by beatlesblogger

Paul McCartney has just announced that he’s signed a worldwide recording agreement with his old label, Capitol Records.

The deal encompasses McCartney’s entire body of post-Beatles work, from his 1970 McCartney album, through his decade with Wings, to the dozens of solo and collaborative works and is a welcome home to the label where he began his career.

“This is genuinely exciting for me,” McCartney said. “Not only was Capitol my first U.S. record label, but the first record I ever bought was Gene Vincent’s ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ on the Capitol label.”

McCartney is currently working on a new studio album, while a comprehensive plan for the artist’s catalogue is being conceived by Capitol and Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) – in conjunction with the artist and his management team – and will be implemented beginning July 2017**. The catalogue moves to Capitol/UMe from the Concord Music Group, Paul’s previous label partner.

Capitol Music Group (CMG) Chairman and CEO, Steve Barnett said “Paul McCartney’s association with Capitol has long defined so much of our historic legacy, and all of us here are extremely proud and honored that he has chosen to come back home. Paul’s indelible contributions to our culture are second to none, and his constant evolution as an artist and performer continues to inspire and enrich the lives of countless millions of people. We are overjoyed that Paul will be creating new music for years to come, and that Capitol will be helping to present it to the world.”

Paul McCartney High in the cloud recording session

** Just what this means will be interesting for collectors and fans. We’re in the middle of a huge McCartney Archive re-issue program in conjunction with Concord Records. So, what happens to that is one question that comes immediately to mind. Hopefully we’re not looking at starting over with an entirely new back-catalogue release program…..

Beatles Memorabilia and Records Auction

Posted on June 4, 2016 by beatlesblogger

There’s an interesting auction of some cool Beatle items coming up at Heritage Auctions in the USA on June 24 and 25.

The auction is part of a much larger entertainment consignment. The Beatles section starts here.

Amongst the autographs, photographs, ticket stubs and records on offer are two items that caught our eye.

First was this unique poster prepared for Apple/Capitol Records in 1970. It was for distribution to record stores owners as a Christmas greeting:

Second was this very rare example of a working prototype device that Apple employee (and so-called “electronics wizard”) Magic Alex actually produced:As the auction site says: Yanni Alexis “Magic Alex” Mardas was associated with the Beatles during the 1965-1969 period, part of that time as head of Apple Electronics, which was a money-losing failure. He impressed the Beatles, especially John Lennon who coined his nickname, with his gadgets and big ideas to revolutionize the consumer electronics business. Mardas claimed he could build them a 72-track recording studio which never materialized. Other of his ideas that never quite worked out include: a flying saucer, loudspeaker wallpaper, a personal pocket force field, invisible paint, and color-changing paint….

Beatles With Records – Part 29

Posted on December 1, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Time for another Beatles With Records, this time courtesy of The Beatles Archive blog site.

On the afternoon of 29 August, 1965 the Beatles gave a press conference at the famous Capitol Records Tower building in Hollywood. Alan Livingston, then President of Capitol, presented the band with gold discs for sales of the US edition of their Help! soundtrack LP: usa_help beatles-hollywood-29-august-1965-05-700x459 Afterwards an armored truck drove the Beatles to perform at the Hollywood Bowl, where 18,000 people attended.

See the other instalments of The Beatles With Records here.

Warman’s “Beatles Field Guide” Book

Posted on May 2, 2015 by beatlesblogger

We found a cute little Beatle book the other day. It’s called Warman’s Beatles Field Guide. Published in 2005 it is a small (but thick at 512 pages), pocket-sized book listing prices and descriptions for a wide range of Beatle collectables.

Inside you’ll find articles on “Why the Beatles Still Matter” and “Ranking the Beatles” as well as commentary and information on their post-break-up and solo careers.

But the biggest and most interesting chapters are the sections on “Memorabilia” – which is a comprehensively illustrated price guide (in 2005 US$ of course!):

The “Singles” (again lavishly illustrated and with indicative prices):

And then a lengthy section detailing each of the “Albums”:

These sections are all based around the US releases only – but it’s a great ‘ready-reference’ style book with a huge number of photos, background information and examples for each of the entries. A really worthwhile little book to have.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Category Archives: Capitol Records

Rarest, Most Expensive ‘Sgt. Pepper’?

Beatles – The UK vs. The US Albums Chart

Beatles 1964 US Albums in Mono – More

Capitol 75 and the Elusive 2017 Reissue Series

McCartney ‘Archive Collection’ Coloured Vinyl – Confusion Reigns

“Great Record Labels” Book

Paul McCartney Back with Capitol Records Again

Beatles With Records – Part 29

Warman’s “Beatles Field Guide” Book

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