My Six By Four Universe

 Magical Mystery Tour (Capitol SMAL2835 stereo) Released in the U.S - 27th November 1967 Side One Matrix Number - SMAL2835-A Side Two Matrix Number - SMAL - 2 - 2835 This disc is out of order with the rest of the U.K releases, but it has context. In the U.K, a double EP of the six songs on side one were released in December 1967 to accompany the Beatles' weirdly-psychedelic TV film. In America, Capitol combined the TV film songs with the other non-album tracks released in 1967 to create a genuine 12" album. I offer it here because I bought this copy from Alibaba Records on South Road in Waterloo around 1980. But the Beatles have included "Magical Mystery Tour" as part of their official canon since 1976. This was the first full-priced Beatles album I purchased. The thing about the independent record shops, that are few and far between now, was they always got in odd, imported issues of records, probably because they were cheaper and easier to get hold of than the U.K ...

 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone PMC7027 mono) Released in the U.K - 26th May 1967 Side One Matrix Number - XEX637-1  Mother Stamper 6  Sub-Stamper 44 Side Two Matrix Number - XEX638-1  Mother Stamper 1 Sub-Stamper 490 I got this one from a record fair in Skipton. When I think about it now, it was a false economy, because the same promoter of these record fairs was doing venues all over the north of England. Perhaps I just fancied a day out? It was a Sunday, and I used to do a takeaway delivery job the previous night. If I did well, I'd go places the following day. Anyway, this copy of "Pepper" replaced a better copy that went missing, so for £20 it was a no brainer. My first copy of this album was on an imported EMI Greece label, stories of which I will get to in time. I remember a mate in junior school had an original copy with the cut-out sheet you see below, he brought it into school. It freaked me out completely. I hadn't heard the album the...

A Collection Of Beatles Oldies (But Goldies) (Parlophone PMC7016 mono) Released in the UK - 10th December 1966 Side One Matrix Number XEX619-1G  Mother Stamper 3  Sub-Stamper 63 Side Two Matrix Number XEX620-1G  Mother Stamper 3  Sub-Stamper 93 I got this one from a record fair in Manchester. I'm not sure what the venue was called but it was /is the Co-Op headquarters, just outside Victoria station. I have about six different copies of "Oldies", one  copy in particular has a brilliant story behind its' purchase that I will leave for another time. This plays well, but it's obviously been around the block a bit. Regardless of how it's been looked after, it's been well-played, but not to a point where it's completely worn out. When I really started to appreciate vinyl and how delicate it was, I wasn't going to buy stuff just because it was there. If something was a bad copy, I didn't bother, though there was one exception which I can talk about an...

 Revolver (Parlophone PMC7009 mono) Released in the UK - 5th August 1966 Side One Matrix Number XEX605-2  Mother Stamper 4  Sub-stamper 38 Side Two Matrix Number XEX606-2  Mother Stamper 7  Sub-stamper 20 The first of the non-family albums. I got this copy of "Revolver" from the Beatles Shop on Mathew Street in Liverpool about 20 years ago. It cost £10, at the time. I have history with this retailer, and it's not great, but the other stories are for another blog post. The thing about the Beatles and Liverpool in the early 1980s is it took Lennon's murder for the city to realise what we'd lost, and what we actually had. The legacy the band left their hometown is incalculable. A whole raft of Beatles-related business took off after that tragic event in December 1980, and the Beatles Shop is a consequence of it. Before that date, my city didn't want to know about the Beatles. There was a general feeling that they'd left the city for the money, and didn't ...