Beatles With Records – Part 31

Posted on June 27, 2022 by beatlesblogger

The photos of George Harrison at home we published in Beatles With Records – Part 30 unleashed something of a flood of further images from readers depicting band members with LPs – especially George.

Additional images from what appears to be that same ‘at home’ photo session show him with even more records:

Specifically a well-stocked, three-tiered record rack seen on the right-hand side here (and thanks to our reader Lammert who sent these images through, plus many more across the whole Beatles With Records series):

Here, in the top left compartment you can just make out this 1966 album, Krishna Consciousness by A.C.Bhaktivedanta Swami, the Indian spiritual teacher and founder of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), commonly known as the “Hare Krishna Movement”:

On the top right is Booker T and the M.G.’s Soul Limbo from 1968:

In the middle row, to the left is Woody Guthrie’s classic, Woody Guthrie Sings Folk Songs (with Leadbelly, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry and Bess Hawes), first released in 1962:

Staying on the middle row – on the right-hand side is one of George’s all-time favourite bands, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. This time with their Greatest Hits Volume 2 LP first issued in 1967:

And of course, in the bottom left compartment of his record holder George has his own Electronic Sound, released on the Zapple label in 1969:

We say Smokey Robinson is one of George’s favourites because when he got a big package of records delivered during the filming of the Let It Be documentary it contained more Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, as these images from the recent Peter Jackson Get Back film clearly show:

These are (in order of appearance) the aforementioned Smokey Robinson and the Miracles Greatest Hits Volume 2, and also the album Make It Happen (from 1967):

Plus there’s copy of Away We A Go Go, from 1966. (You can see the rear cover of this album in the last Get Back photo above):

For another image of George with a different Miracles LP check out Part 18.

Jumping back a few years, we’ve been sent this image by reader and regular contributor Andrey:

The caption reads: ‘EMI House, Manchester Square, London, October 5 1965. According to Beatles Book #28 the group went to the West End headquarters of their record company to collect four Russian-made acoustic guitars and to be photographed playing them for the benefit of the factory where they were made.’

A stack of jazz records just happened to also make it into the image – and we can see a mono pressing of the 1962 Oscar Peterson Trio release The Sound of the Trio clearly in shot:

In this photo the Beatles look a bit tired and jet-lagged. But they’re still carrying records!

Paul has a copy of Frankie Lymon’s Greatest All-Time Oldies from 1963:

And Ringo has a disc we saw him with in The Beatles With Records Part Seventeen – a ‘Best Of’ compilation called The Golden Goodies of 1963 – Volume 18:

Back to George, and a meeting with the secretaries of the Beatle Fan Club to sort through some of the fan mail. He has some more records on his lap, the top one of which is another of his all-time favourites, Chet Atkins:

And to end this installment, a photograph of John Lennon and Paul McCartney holding a picture sleeve EP cover:

What they have with them is this record:

Why? Because it’s a screen shot from The Music of Lennon & McCartney, a British TV special honoring the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. Produced by Granada Television it first went to air on 16 December, 1965.

During the show The Beatles perform originals, and artists from around the world perform cover versions of their songs. The two are just about to introduce French singer Dick Rivers:

Wikepedia says that Hervé Forneri, known professionally as Dick Rivers, was a French singer and actor who began performing in the early 1960s. He was an important figure in introducing rock and roll music in France. He was an admirer of Elvis Presley, who influenced both his singing and looks.

There will be another Beatles With Records soon. We have been sent many more images since our last post on the subject. Check out all the previous installments here.

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.

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Eight

Posted on August 13, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Quite a few more photos of the Beatles holding or working with records have come in so it is time for a further instalment of our series The Beatles With Records.

The Liverpool Echo news site is reporting that the stereo radiogram shown in this picture of Ringo Starr and wife Maureen is up for auction:Maureen is shown sitting on the custom-built record player and radio which was built for the couple when they lived at 34 Montagu Square, London in 1965. It was a quality piece for the time with a Garrard turntable, a British Leak valve amplifier, and an Armstrong tuner with twin speakers. Also in the photo are at least four Beatle gold records, plus a shelf stacked with LPs of various kinds.

According to the Echo, Ringo gave the radiogram to his Auntie Everley and Uncle Jim at 59 Madrin Street, Liverpool, which was Ringo`s Grandad`s house. It has been in his Aunt’s possession since 1966 and has just surfaced after almost 50 years:The radiogram is just one of the lots in the Liverpool Beatles memorabilia Auction to be held in the Paul McCartney Auditorium there on August 29. We first featured the photo of Ringo and Maureen at home back in The Beatles With Records – Part Two.

Speaking of Liverpool, here is a cool photograph taken outside Brian Epstein’s NEMS Music Store:

Lots of records in the front window – and the arrow points to one record cover that may give a hint as to the date. It is Dylan’s The Times They Are A-Changin’, which came out in January, 1964:

Lots of other LPs and EPS there in the window. Anyone else recognise anything? (The image was kindly sent through by Billy Shears at the SgtPepperChannel on YouTube).

Back in The Beatles With Records Part Twenty Five we showed a photograph of George Harrison with the Radha Krsna Temple and an Apple single they’d released (and he produced) called ‘Govinda’.

Here they are together again – this time in 1970 – and one member is holding another single of their Apple singles, ‘Hare Krishna Mantra’:

(Again, thanks to Billy Shears for sending through those images).

The topic of George Harrison brings us to model Patti Boyd, who later became his wife. Before they were married she featured in a number of photo shoots with Beatle records. Here’s another. This time Patti is holding a UK mono copy of With The Beatles, from 1963:

And we’ve just had the anniversary (on August 11) of John Lennon apologising to the American people for his “the Beatles are bigger than Jesus” comment. It led to some very odd and sad scenes of LPs and singles being publicly destroyed, these ones below live on air on radio….

Jumping ahead in time, here’s Lennon at home with what looks like an acetate or test pressing in front of him (on the bed, lower right). Impossible to tell what it might be though: And John Lennon again, this time in what looks like a U.S. radio station studio with DJ Scott Muni:

This image looks very much like another photo from the same day, taken at the radio station WNEW-FM in New York. John was on the publicity trail for his album Rock’n’Roll. The two men are wearing the same clothing (Lennon a tee-shirt, and Muni a shirt and light coloured knitted sweater). You can see this photo in The Beatles With Records – Part Three:And to finish a video of Paul McCartney, performing live at the famous Amoeba Music record store in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 27, 2007. Here Paul is literally surrounded by vinyl and CD’s in the hundreds and thousands:

Just two obvious cover shots from the posters on the wall behind him…..You will no doubt spot a lot more:

And here is the full video:

Check out all the posts in this series here.

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Seven

Posted on May 16, 2015 by beatlesblogger

Well, it’s been quite a while since we had a Beatles With Records post. In between time quite a number of new photographs have been found and submitted by keen Beatles Blog readers – especially Billy Shears, Lammert, and Andrey.

It’s going to be a reasonably big one. So, where to begin? Probably roughly chronologically would be best, starting with Dick Rowe, the Decca A&R man credited (wrongly as it turns out) with rejecting the Beatles at their audition for Decca Records in January, 1962:

Some of the albums on his wall include A Taste of Tijuana by The Mexicans:

Lulu’s Something to Shout About:

The Fortunes:

And Marianne Faithful’s North Country Maid:

But here’s the band that Decca missed out on:

It is a very youthful looking group on the front cover of the pop magazine Teen Screen. Notice the big “scoop”: WHY THE BEATLES ARE BREAKING UP!…..

There’s a bunch of records on the wall behind them, but they’re holding up with pride a copy of their then-new LP Please Please Me:

You can see a slightly larger and clearer image of that front cover photo in The Beatles with Records Part Two.

And here is the band out promoting that same album:The Beatles were soon to star in their first full-length movie A Hard Day’s Night, and from that film comes these screenshots of one of their co-stars, Wilfrid Bramble. Bramble played Paul McCartney’s grandfather, “a clean old man” who none-the-less is taking a rather keen interest in this very sexy record cover:

George Shearing’s White Satin LP came out in 1960….

In previous posts we’ve had photographs of various members of the band actually playing records. Here’s another, this time George with an unidentified stack of 45’s:

The Beatles were big in France, and there were unique covers produced in that country for their LPs, EPs and singles. Here they are stuck in a lift and signing a copy of the French EP Eight Days a Week:

The Eight Days a Week EP (from 1965) above also featured in The Beatles With Records Part Five.

Onto the Beatles solo now and another interesting photo. These two were taken at John and Yoko’s historic “Bed-In For Peace” in Amsterdam on 30 March, 1969. Clearly the album on the bed is an early pressing of Unfinished Music No.2: Life with the Lions, which was to be released just two months later in May, 1969:

Sticking with John Lennon and his album Rock ‘n’ Roll from 1975. It has a brilliant cover image taken way back in the Beatles Hamburg days by this man, photographer Jürgen Vollmer:

Jumping ahead now to the year 1990, and a charity album called Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal. This compilation contained two Beatle-related tracks. One is by the Traveling Wilburys (“Nobody’s Child”), and the other a duet by Paul Simon and George Harrison of the Simon composition “Homeward Bound”. It was recorded during a performance on Saturday Night Live in 1976. George and his wife Olivia got behind publicising the release and here are two different photographs of them holding copies of the vinyl edition:

Next a 1992 launch party for Ringo Starr’s Time Takes Time CD. Ringo does’t look all that pleased about the lady thrusting a Russian pressing of the Beatles LP Help! into his hands for him to sign….

(Turns out that lady is the famous TV sex therapist Dr. Ruth Westheimer. Quite a few readers have contacted us and identified her – so thanks).

You can read all about the many variations for the Russia-only LP Dr Ruth has here.

And lastly here’s Paul McCartney holding a copy of the CD booklet for his 2006 classical music release, Ecce Cor Meum (Behold My Heart) [see also The Beatles With Records Part Seventeen]:

If you are interested in seeing more of the Beatles With Records check out the past twenty six instalments. More soon!

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Six – Great New Video

Posted on December 9, 2014 by beatlesblogger

For some time now we’ve been running a series on the Beatles photographed or filmed holding records or CDs – either their own, or those of the artists they were listening to.

You can view the past twenty five instalments here.

Quite independently a video maker on the other side of the world from us had an idea for something similar – and we have been in touch over the past couple of months. He goes by the name Billy Shears and he can be found on YouTube at The Sgt Pepper Channel.

Billy has just uploaded a fantastic video compilation of absolutely everything he can find of The Beatles With Records. It shows many of the photographs featured on our site, but also a LOT more. It’s very cleverly done as the images flow together and emerge in themes. Really well worth a look!

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Five

Posted on October 7, 2014 by beatlesblogger

It’s not often we get video of the Beatles with records. We have had only a couple over this course of this series (see: Part 6, Part 14, and possibly Part 23….although the jury is still out as to whether John Lennon is actually carrying a record up the steps on his way into the Abbey Road studios).

Now comes film from way back in 1964. It was shot at Brian Epstein’s NEMS offices on May 30 that year, with the Beatles just beginning to enjoy their first taste of really big success. The first part of the YouTube clip (above) is fairly mundane – colour film of the band sitting in the office with various members of the press, fans and hangers-on milling about. Then at about the 2 mins 50 seconds mark a record executive (who looks to be an American) brings over some 45s and LPs for Paul McCartney to peruse. These appear to be US test pressings, and maybe even a gold record that’s yet to be framed…?

Then at approximately 4 minutes into the video we see a copy of this US album flash by – which Paul looks quite pleased with: Just after that John Lennon joins Paul and they continue to examine the stack of discs. Quite apart from the records, it’s an interesting series of clips showing the natural, easy charm the band possessed – particularly John, and also Paul. In this photo below, taken during the band’s first “world” tour (which took in Denmark and saw drummer Jimmy Nicol briefly fill in for an ill Ringo Starr), we can see Paul McCartney holding the Danish pressing of the single “Long Tall Sally/I Call Your Name”, released on the Odeon label: Here’s another photograph, this time from the first US tour in 1964. We know from other photographs taken on this tour that the band took the opportunity to pick up some US albums by their favourites. This one is George Harrison with an LP by one of his guitar idols – the great Chet Atkins: The Beatles were always very generous with the time they gave to their fans, frequently stopping in the street or in their cars to sign autographs. Here’s George again, signing what could be a record – but it could also be some sort of a concert program or booklet: Staying with George, here he is much later during the Apple Records days with members of one of his signings to the label – the Radha Krsna Temple. They’re holding a copy of their 1971 Apple single called “Govinda”:Here’s another amazing photograph of George – showing off his impressive guitar collection. It contains a number of mysteries which you might be able to help solve (click on the image below to see a larger version): Taken at his home at Friar Park, we can see up on the mantle piece (up high and to George’s left) artwork for the cover of The Apple E.P. This was released in 1991 and was a 45 containing four songs, one song each from the first four non-Beatle artists ever to be released on the label. They are Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, Jackie Lomax and Billy Preston. It was a promotional release to mark the first round of Apple re-issues (on vinyl and CD) back in 1991: Also high up, and to the right in the photograph of George above is an image of Eric Clapton from around the time of the release of his album 461 Ocean Boulevard (1974). It looks like an album – but it is difficult to identify because it’s partially hidden by a box also on the shelf. There’s lettering across the top left of the photo which says “Eric Clapton”. The image of Clapton is very similar to the on the inside of the gatefold of 461 Ocean Boulevard: Lower down from the sideboard, still on the right-hand side of the photo, there’s a pile of two or three LPs. On top is what looks like an older style cover. It seems to be by a singer from the 1930’s or 40’s, maybe a famous tenor or baritone? It is hard to make out the name – but it looks like the writing says “Robert….(something)”, with his picture in an oval shape below. Anyone with any information or ideas on what this album might be please let us know! Then to the far left of the photograph (i.e. to George’s right), on the floor and leaning up against the wall is a large image of his Dark Horse Records logo. It is lying on its side – so all we can see is the horse’s tail: There is an LP or a box obscuring the full logo, but it is impossible to know what this might be. To finish off this post, a topical one with the soon-to-be-released Archive Series re-issue of Paul McCartney’s Venus and Mars (1975). It’s Wings – sitting with what looks to be a proof sheet for the front cover artwork for the album:The 2014 re-master of Venus and Mars will be released on November 3 (November 4 in the USA).

You can see more in the Beatles With Records series here (just go to the links at the bottom of the page).

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Three

Posted on July 31, 2014 by beatlesblogger

Over at The Beatle Forum there’s a bit of a discussion happening at the moment about a record that John Lennon was carrying into the EMI Abbey Road Studios. He’s being interviewed on the steps of the studios in 1966 for the UK weekly television series Reporting ’66, made by Independent Television News (ITN):

The video is quite interesting in itself as it has all four Beatles arriving at Abbey Road and being quizzed on the band’s future directions.

The question is: is that a record John has under his arm? And if so, what is it?

Here’s a still from the video, plus some close-ups:

Can anyone out there help identify the record?

If so please contact us at beatlesblogger @ gmail.com

You can see more in the Beatles With Records series here (just go to the links at the bottom of the page).

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Two

Posted on March 31, 2014 by beatlesblogger

It has been a while since we’ve had a Beatles with records post. This is where we look for photographs of the Beatles actually holding those things they sold so many of – LP records, 45’s and CDs. And we try to do the detective work to identify the records they holding. Some are easier than others….

Our friend Lammert in France just sent through a set of John Lennon photos that were taken the same day as this photograph, which we published last time in The Beatles With Records Part 21:

John seems to be holding either a big reel-to-reel tape box, or some sort of record box from the Epic Records company. You can clearly see the company logo on the front. In the 1960s EMI, the Beatles’ record company, had a distribution deal with Epic to release their titles in the UK – so maybe it was a box of sample records from them for him to listen to? Lammert has turned up a few more taken the same day which provide a few more clues:

John has the same Epic box – and a Gold Record award award – in his lap in the photos above. Notice the photo of the band in the newspaper that is on the coffee table, just near his right boot! There is also a bag from Columbia Records on the lounge:

We still can’t really see what’s in that Epic Records box, nor in the package from Columbia either. Here, Ringo lights up a cigarette while John takes a peak inside:

Lammert points out that these black and white photographs were taken the same day as this colour shot of John and Paul with LPs (which was included in our very first Beatles with Records post):

The photo above definitely confirms that the Epic box was in fact full of records. You can still see a couple still inside, and John and Paul are holding more. And this photograph below of George, counting his money and wearing a Beatles cap (from the Beatles with Records – Part Eighteen), was also taken that same day in the same room. Is that also the Epic Records box opened up in front of him?:

By the way, the framed gold record John has was for the US Capitol pressing of “I Want to Hold You Hand”. This is an original presentation white matte gold award. The single had sold over a million copies and was certified gold on February 3, 1964, just days before the band was to appear in New York at the start of their 1964 US tour. By March 28th Capitol Records reported sales in excess of 3.4 million copies. This and the following two singles are the extremely rare variety with the RIAA logo attached to the presentation plaque with glue. Only awards prepared before approximately September of 1964 use this format. Beginning in late 1964 the RIAA logo was etched into the presentation plaque. The plaque reads: Presented To The Beatles To Commemorate The Sale Of More Than One Million Copies Of The Capitol Records Pop Single Record “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. (Thanks to the whocollection site for the information):

Here they are in the same suits they are wearing in the hotel room in the photos above accepting the gold record from Allen Livingston, President of Capital Records at the Hotel Plaza:

Thanks to Lammert for sending through those additional photos.

You can see more in the Beatles With Records series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17,18,19, 20 and 21.

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty One

Posted on December 1, 2013 by beatlesblogger

When we started way back with Part One of the Beatles With Records series it was based on the premise that (quote): “Despite selling multi, multi-millions of the things, it’s kind of strange that you hardly ever see photographs of the Beatles themselves with, or listening to, records”.

Well, through lots of help from Beatles Blog readers we’ve actually amassed quite a lot of photographs to disprove that theory.

And here are some more….

Back in that first post we showed this great photo of John Lennon surrounded by guitars, amplifiers, speakers and 45 singles, listening intently to music:

Here is another angle from that same day:

John is a bit of a running theme throughout this post. In this next photograph he seems to be holding either a big reel-to-reel tape box, or some sort of record box from the classic Epic Records company:

You can clearly see the company’s old logo on the front. In the 1960s EMI, the Beatles’ record company, had a distribution deal with Epic to release their titles in the UK – so maybe it was a box of sample records from them for him to listen to?Epic is still going strong of course. Here’s another of John seeking out a track to play on a great-looking jukebox. It’d be interesting to know which song he chose to listen to….

There are no recognisable discs in this next one of John and Yoko rehearsing, but there’s a shelf full of records behind them none-the-less:

This next photograph shows the couple on the promotion trail for Imagine:

Not sure which LP John is listening to here:

Back in Part 5 we showed this photo of Beatle manager Brian Epstein holding a UK copy of Help!:

Another photo has come in which gives the close-up shot above a great deal more context. Brian was actually studying the cover of Help! amidst the hubbub of the Beatles getting ready to make some sort of an appearance, or about to go on stage: This next one is associated with the same Beatle film-related project. It’s pretty easy to guess that the band is at a press conference in the United States, only this time associated with the US version of the LP from the film Help! It came with a different cover:

Here’s another photograph of Brian Epstein, this time with a much earlier album, Please Please Me:

Meanwhile, back to John Lennon, and two photograph taken around the time of the release of Double Fantasy. Check what looks to be a sample image of the cover stuck on the noticeboard:And, in the same office, signing the back covers of promotional copies of Double Fantasy to go out to reviewers at radio stations, magazines and newspapers:

We’ve previously featured Paul McCartney besieged by fans when trying to move between a building and his car. The fans are thrusting out albums to be signed. You can see a couple of good examples in the Beatles With Records Part Twenty, and also in Part Fourteen. Sometimes, from the look on his face, you get the feeling that Paul must be thinking “Will this ever stop?”Most times though he seems very willing to smile and help fans out where he can:And to finish, a couple of earlier Paul photos with records from his Beatle days:

And from the Wings days:You can see the entire Beatles With Records series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17,18,19 and 20.

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

Posted on October 7, 2013 by beatlesblogger

OK, to kick off Part 20 in our series a couple of photographs of the Beatles with records which are going to be tough to solve.

Here Paul is standing in front of a display. The thing is these record covers are all not immediately recognisable as they seem to be from other countries. They would all be from the 1960s. Does anyone have any idea what these discs might be?

And this one below of John – is that an LP to his left (our right)? This appears to be a photograph taken while the artists known as The Fool give one of John’s pianos a very special paint job. Amongst other things The Fool designed the original inner sleeve for Sgt Pepper, and they did the huge mural which adorned the outside of the Apple Boutique clothing shop in London.

Back to the photo. Is this an LP record cover? You can clearly make out what looks to be the word “Velvet…..”. Or could it be a poster?

Let us know if you have any further info on this one.

Now onto some easier-to-solve Beatles With Records photos. Firstly to Paul and Linda with a copy of Press to Play, his sixth solo studio album, released August 1986.

I really don’t know what the occasion is below – Yoko is photographed with a group of young men, one of whom is in a Beatle jacket, and another who is holding up a copy of John’s “legal obligation” disc called John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits (which later, and with much better sound, appeared on Apple Records as Rock ‘n’ Roll):You can read the full story about how this album came into being here. It’s a long and complicated tale….

These next photographs are very similar (but taken at a different event) to those photos you may have seen in Part 14 where Paul McCartney is swamped by waiting fans eager for him to sign LP covers.

In the two photos above I can make out at least ten albums, beginning at the top:

If you can see any others let us know.

And yet again, another flock of fans hoping for a signature but this time at a different location:

I can make out these titles:

Signings for their fans have always been something the Beatles as a band (and as solo artists) have always embraced. Here’s another of Paul – this time autographing a copy of Wings at the Speed of Sound from 1976:This one of George Harrison doesn’t have any records in view (except for the indistinguishable 45 actually on the turntable) – but it has a cool little record player though….and it’s a great shot of George: One final photo to finish off this installment….obviously taken at the quality control room at the EMI plant in 1965:

A big thank you to Andrey in Russia for most of these images. You can see the other parts in The Beatles with Records series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17,18 and 19.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Tag Archives: Beatles With Records

Beatles With Records – Part 31

Beatles With Records – Part 29

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Seven

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Six – Great New Video

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Five

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Three

Beatles With Records – Part Twenty Two

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

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