OUT-OF-PRINT Mint Sealed THE BEATLES The Fan Club Christmas Records 2017 BOX SET

$

143

Brand new, factory sealed, mint condition!

The Beatles "The Christmas Records" box set of the seven iconic records that haven't been officially available since the 1960's.  

This box set was released on December 15, 2017 as a limited edition of 10,000 copies worldwide by Apple Corps Limited under exclusive license to Calderstone Productions Limited (a division of Universal Music Group) and is now out-of-print and already sold out in stores.  Made in Germany, with catalog number 0602557914856.

Contents of the box set:

1. The box set features seven colored vinyl records (see full track listing at the end of the description).  Each record is a 7-inch vinyl single that features the Fab Four’s original festive messages, which were issued every year to the fan club on flexi-disc.  Each vinyl single has been reproduced with its original flexi disc sleeve artwork.

2. Included is a 16-page booklet with recording notes and reproductions of the fan club’s National Newsletters, which were mailed to members with the original holiday flexi-discs.

The Beatles’ annual holiday tradition of recording jolly Christmas messages for fan club members was an important part of the band’s relationship with their most ardent supporters, affectionately referred to by them as “Beatle People.” Spanning 1963 to 1969, The Beatles’ holiday recordings were originally pressed on flexi discs and mailed to fan club members each December. Never released beyond the fan club until now.

The Christmas singles consist of wordplay-laden spoken messages, surreal skits and snatches of original songs.  The goofy tracks capture the band at their most playful, showcasing their warm camaraderie and wit punctuated by cheery cries of their invented Yuletide greeting: "Happy Crimble!" As their fame grew and the pressure became more immense, The Beatles welcomed the chance to blow off steam and follow their creativity into areas beyond their usual pop fare. These low-stakes sessions emboldened them to experiment, sometimes inspiring ideas that would later appear on their better-known work. Even when they're not pushing the artistic envelope, their eccentric humor, heavily influenced by British radio comedy collective the Goons, remains as funny now as it was half a century earlier.

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Buyer pays postage for mailing addresses outside the USA, using U.S. Postal Service International Priority Mail for a package that measures 9 inches long, 9 inches wide, 4 inches high, and weighs 4 pounds.

FULL TRACK LISTING:

RECORD ONE - 1963: The Beatles' Christmas Record

• Recorded: 17 October 1963
• Location: Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road  
• Producer: Tony Barrow

• Issued: 6 December 1963
• One-sided 7-inch white colored vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 5:00

The first Christmas recording from The Beatles featured several renditions of the traditional carol "Good King Wenceslas" and individual messages from the four, ending with a closing chorus of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Ringo".  This offering, as well as 1964's, was scripted by Beatles' press officer Tony Barrow, who had instigated the Christmas message program.

RECORD TWO - 1964: Another Beatles Christmas Record

• Recorded: 26 October 1964
• Location: Studio 2, EMI Studios, Abbey Road  
• Producer: Tony Barrow

• Issued: 18 December 1964
• One-sided 7-inch translucent red colored vinyl 45 RPM
• Total time: 3:58

The song "Jingle Bells" is sung, followed by individual messages to the fans. John Lennon mocks the prepared statement, doing an imitation of Paul Harvey and includes his own pseudo-words and ad-libbing. When Paul McCartney asks him if he wrote this himself, he says, "No it's somebody's bad hand-wroter. It's been a busy year Beople peadles, one way and another, but it's been a great year too. You fans have seen to that. Page two ... Thanks a lot folks and a happy-er Christmas and a Merry Grew Year. Crimble maybe." (The statement is apparently handwritten as at various points in the recording, McCartney reads "making them" as "melting them" before correcting himself and George Harrison reads "quite a time" as "quiet time" before correcting himself with "great time" as well.) Finishing up the record is a brief rendition of the traditional song "Oh Can You Wash Your Father's Shirt?".

RECORD THREE - 1965: The Beatles' Third Christmas Record

• Recorded: 8 November 1965
• Location: Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road  
• Producer: Tony Barrow

• Issued: 17 December 1965
• One-sided 7-inch blue colored vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 6:20

Several off-key, a cappella versions of "Yesterday" are dispersed throughout the record, alongside Lennon's "Happy Christmas to Ya List'nas", "Auld Lang Syne" (which briefly morphs into an impression of Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction"), a one-and-a-half-line version of the Four Tops' "It's the Same Old Song" (which they quickly stop before they violate the copyright), and an original poem titled "Christmas Comes But Once a Year".

RECORD FOUR - 1966: The Beatles' Fourth Christmas Record – Pantomime: Everywhere It's Christmas

• Recorded: 25 November 1966  
• Location: Dick James Music
• Producer: George Martin

• Issued: 16 December 1966
• One-sided 7-inch translucent yellow colored vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 6:36

Recorded between sessions for "Strawberry Fields Forever", for the 1966 offering, the usual greetings and thanks gave way to a 'Pantomime'-themed collection of original songs and dramatic skits. The songs include "Everywhere It's Christmas", "Orowayna", and "Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back". McCartney plays the piano. The sketches performed include "Podgy the Bear and Jasper" and "Felpin Mansions".

RECORD FIVE - 1967: Christmas Time Is Here Again!

• Recorded: 28 November 1967
• Location: Studio 3, EMI Studios, London  
• Producer: George Martin

• Issued: 15 December 1967
• 1-sided 7-inch translucent green colored vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 6:06

An elaborate production, Christmas Time Is Here Again! was developed around the concept of several groups auditioning for a BBC radio show. The title song serves as a refrain throughout the record. The Beatles portray a multitude of characters, including game show contestants, aspiring musicians ("Plenty of Jam Jars", by the Ravellers), and actors in a radio drama ("Theatre Hour"). At the end Lennon reads a poem, "When Christmas Time Is Over." This offering was likely a deliberate homage to/continuation of the broadly similar "Craig Torso" specials produced for BBC Radio 1 that same year by the Beatles' friends and collaborators the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, and also shares much in common with their then-unreleased track "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)", recorded six months previously.

RECORD SIX - 1968: The Beatles' 1968 Christmas Record

• Recorded: November–December 1968  
• Location: various
• Producer: Kenny Everett

• Issued: 20 December 1968
• Two-sided 7-inch translucent clear vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 7:48

The first Beatles Christmas fan-club disc to be recorded separately, the 1968 offering is a collage of odd noises, musical snippets, and individual messages. McCartney's song "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year" is featured, along with Lennon's poems "Jock and Yono" and "Once Upon a Pool Table." Also notable is a rendition of "Nowhere Man" by the ukulele-playing Tiny Tim. Also included is a sped-up snippet of the Beatles' own "Helter Skelter" and a brief snippet of Perrey & Kingsley's "Baroque Hoedown" which was used three years later in Disneyland's Main Street Electrical Parade. "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," "Yer Blues," and "Birthday" are also heard in the background for part of the message. The dialogue and songs for the flexi-disc were organized and edited together by DJ and friend of the Beatles, Kenny Everett.

RECORD SEVEN - 1969: The Beatles' Seventh Christmas Record: Happy Christmas 1969

• Recorded: November–December 1969  
• Location: various
• Producer: Kenny Everett

• Issued: 19 December 1969
• Two-sided 7-inch orange colored vinyl 33-1/3 RPM
• Total time: 7:39

The final Beatles Christmas offering was also recorded separately, as the band had effectively split by this point. It features an extensive visit with Lennon and his wife Yoko at their Tittenhurst Park estate, where they play "what will Santa bring me?" games. Harrison and Ringo Starr appear only briefly, the latter to publicize his recent film, The Magic Christian. McCartney sings his original ad-lib, "This is to Wish You a Merry, Merry Christmas." Starting at 1:30, at the tail-end of Starr's song, the guitar solos from "The End" are heard, followed by Ono interviewing Lennon.