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acousticsoup · 7 years

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Very rare and beautiful #Beatles items ...Fan Club Xmas discs!

Back in 1963 when #TheBeatles began their quest for world domination, fans flocked to join The Beatles Fan Club. The Fab Four were still enthusiastic enough to want to reward the fans for their loyalty and so decided to issue special Xmas discs to their loyal following. These comprised a flexi-disc containing songs, greetings, and bits of Goon-inspired comedy and the discs were presented in Christmassy sleeves. Read on if you want to know more about the history of this very rare and exciting package! ...

We make no apologies for the length of this post because we’re sure you will want to know about each of these amazing discs. When the first disc was issued in 1963 the Fan Club had well over 50,000 members but, even so, the discs are now difficult to find - particularly in their original sleeves and even more so in the original mailing envelopes.

As the decade wore on and it became a little uncool to be a member of a Fan Club, membership numbers declined, fewer discs were sent out and they are consequently much rarer with discs for 1968 and 1969 being particularly scarce.

By 1970, The Beatles own enthusiasm for making a special Christmas disc had waned to the point that the Fan Club decided to send the remaining Members a full LP record containing the contents of all the previous flexi-discs. These LPs themselves have become rare and are much sought after.

For Beatles collectors the Xmas flexi-discs have become something of a holy grail and are difficult to find, particularly in good condition as they are fragile and - like all flexi-discs - prone to wear and creasing. Our discs are of VG playable quality, and very, very enjoyable to listen to - possibly some of the most off-the-wall stuff the Beatles did.

We also have a ‘signed’ Fan Club Card - we say ‘signed’ because they were usually signed by the Club Secretariat (Freda Kelly/Anne Collingwood) replicating the signatures of the Fab Four. However, Ringo could also replicate all four signatures and so who knows who produced these particular signatures! So, let’s look at each of the individual items:

The above is the Beatles 2nd Xmas disc (1964) and is simply titled Another Beatles Christmas Record. Issued in December 1964, the back cover has a great description of how the whole Christmas disc system with the Fan Club worked, and some nice notes about Paul nipping into the Fan Club offices in London and doing some of the signings and then taking the Secretariat team for lunch. It describes the Fan Club then had 65,000 members and was issued while the guys were still much more suited, booted, and serious. The later editions become much more ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Sgt Pepper’ and way, way out there! The group photograph is a separate item we have issued by Anabas Products copyright 1977.

Beatles 4th Xmas disc (1966, above) has a Pantomime ‘Everywhere it’s Christmas’ colourful sleeve designed by Paul McCartney and was recorded on Fri 25th Nov 1966. It contains a song ‘Everywhere it’s Christmas’ and another ‘Please Don’t Bring Your Banjo Back’, the Corsican Choir and Small Choir ‘Orowayna’; items such as ‘A Rare Cheese (Two Elderly Scotsmen)’, ‘Podgy The Bear and Jasper’, ‘Felpin Mansions: Parts 1 and 2′ - all very Goons inspired, and Monty Python would be proud.

Beatles 5th Xmas disc (1967, above) is titled ‘Christmas Time (Is Here Again)’ and has an amazing collage-cover made up of incredible old black and white photographs - much time could be spent simply looking at the images on the cover and wondering! Where they obtained the images goodness knows. Cover design was by Julian Lennon (*we guess the drawings on the back!), John Lennon, and Ringo Starr. It was recorded on Tues 28th Nov 1967 at EMI studios, St John’s Wood (LON). This time no details are given as to what’s on the disc except with the hint of ‘Special Guest appearance by the feet/voice of Victor U Spinetti and Something Else by Malcolm Lift-Evans’. This disc comes with an incredible insert (in excellent condition) of the National Newsletter written by the Fan Club Secretary Freda Kelly and giving more details about the contents of the record. On the reverse of the insert is a fabulous cartoon of the Fab Four drawn by Bob Gibson.

Beatles 6th Xmas disc (1968, above) is simply called ‘The Beatles Sixth Christmas Record’ and was recorded in Nov 1968 at the London homes of John, Paul, and George, and also in the back of Ringo’s Removal Van (*it’s apparent interest is changing by this time!). Part of George’s contribution was also achieved over the phone! A tiny interest is the small note referencing the huge contribution of #KennyEverett in the production of the disc - basically, Everett seemed to take a whole lot of random input from the Beatles and turned it into the disc! The tiny italics state ‘Non-Beatle Kenny Foreverett had a Nice Time mucking about with the tapes and deserves to be called PRODUCER although this is an unpaid position’! This disc also comes with an excellent quality insert detailing sets of Beatles photographs available for Fan Club Members to buy at the huge price of ‘3 shillings per photo, or set of 8 for One Pound’!

Beatles 7th Xmas disc (1969, above) is titled ‘The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record’ and now does not even give a hint of the contents save to say it’s a compilation of recordings from Ascot, Weybridge, St John’s Wood, and also the Apple studios. Kenny Everett again had the potentially unenviable task of ‘soldering’ (*as described on the disc!) things together to form the disc - credit is this time given to him using his real name of Maurice Cole. The contents seem to be for the majority a series of Goon-esque ramblings between John and Yoko with the odd christmas greeting inserted from various other Fab Four. There’s no insert with this disc.

We always use our Blogs/posts to simply share our knowledge with you folks and hopefully encourage people to become infected with a fascination for the preservation of vinyl and the history of the music industry. However, this is such a rare package if you’ve read this and feel it just has to be yours do please email us urgently at [email protected]. The value of this is £350-£400 for the five-disc set only (*you’d need to contact us separately with regards to the Club Card and photo if you have an interest in those). The discs are likely to go to Japan next week if there are no takers, so don’t delay if you are genuinely interested in purchasing. This really is something we feel privileged to be able to share with you, and also to offer for sale. It’s a fascinating collection of Beatle memorabilia.

#beatles #the beatles #beatles christmas records #kenny everett

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