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Beginning in 1963, the Beatles started
a holiday tradition of recording Christmas messages for their fans. The
recordings were edited and issued on flexi-discs through the Official
Beatles Fan Club in England. The records were not available for sale,
but were distributed free to fan club members. In 1964, Beatles (U.S.A.) Ltd., the official national Beatles fan club in the United States, began sending the annual Christmas records to its members. This tradition continued through 1969, although the last two Christmas records were not group efforts, but rather were a series of separately recorded messages from each of the Beatles. |
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TITLE
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Season's Greetings From The Beatles | |||
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RELEASE DATE
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December 1964 | |||
| SLEEVE:
FRONT--> Click! |
SLEEVE:
BACK--> Click! |
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DISK CLOSE UP |  |
FOLDER CLOSE UP | |
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| The American record plays at 33
1/3 r.p.m. |
The credit "Made in U.S.A." was printed at the bottom of the label. | With a message from Fan Club director Bernice Young. | ||
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The flexidisc was embedded in one of
the flaps of cardboard. The Record-Folder was manufactured by Allied Creative Service, Inc., New York. |
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| The middle panel has a photo of each Beatle. | ||||
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FOLDER CLOSE UP |  |
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| The closed front of the folder has a space for mailing label, and has the return address to the left and the Bulk Pate U.S. Postage permit stamp to the right. | The lower panel has the
text "Season's Greetings from Seltaeb" (Beatles spelled backwards). |
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CATALOG NUMBER
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- | |||
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LABEL
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- | |||
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MIX
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Mono | |||
| MATRIX No. | - | |||
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VINYL COLOR
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BLACK | |||
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PRODUCER
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- | |||
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COVER DESIGN/PHOTO/NOTES
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Notes: Lynn Hargrave and Bernice Young | |||
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RECORD COMPANY'S NAME
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- | |||
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PUBLISHER'S NAME
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BEATLES (U.S.A.) LTD. | |||
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PRINTER'S NAME
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Folder: Allied Creative Service | |||
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COMMENTS
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U.S. fans received an
edited version of The Beatles' Christmas Record , which was sent to British fan club members in 1963.
Also, as opposed to using flexi-discs, the U.S. fan club sent the
message in a tri-fold cardboard mailer, with the "record" embedded in
one of the flaps of cardboard. When opened, the top panel of the record
side of the folder has a cropped version of the picture appearing on
the back of the British
newsletter. The Record-Folder was manufactured by Allied Creative
Service, Inc., New York. The U.S. record plays at 33 1/3 r.p.m. The Christmas message was recorded on 17th. October 1963, at the session "I Want To Hold Your Hand / Thisa Boy". With George Martin in control, The Beatles sang and talked their way through press agent Tony Barrow's script. |
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TITLE
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Season's Greetings From The Beatles | |||
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RELEASE DATE
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December 1967 | |||
| CARD: FRONT--> Click! | CARD CLOSE UP | LABEL -->Click! | LABEL CLOSE UP | DISK --> Click! |
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| cf. Postcard with a vinyl record (1966 Christmas record) (Sorry, I don't have it) | ||||
| As was the case in 1966, the American
Fan Club issued the Christmas message on a 7 inch by 8 1/2 inch
postcard with a vinyl record coated on one side and text on the other. |
POSTCARD: FRONT | POSTCARD: BACK (with record embedded) | ||
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OTHER ITEM
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| - | ||||
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CATALOG NUMBER
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- | |||
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LABEL
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- | |||
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MIX
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Mono | |||
| MATRIX No. | - | |||
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VINYL COLOR
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BLACK | |||
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PRODUCER
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George Martin | |||
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COVER DESIGN/PHOTO/NOTES
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- | |||
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RECORD COMPANY'S NAME
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- | |||
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PUBLISHER'S NAME
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BEATLES (U.S.A.) LTD. | |||
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PRINTER'S NAME
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- | |||
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COMMENTS
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As was the case in 1966,
the American Fan Club issued the Christmas
message on a 7 inch by 8 1/2 inch postcard with a vinyl record coated
on one side and text on the other. The record label's silver text is
identical to that of the 1966 label, except that it is undated. The text side has "The Beatle Bulletin" for Christmas, 1967, which has information about the Christmas record and the Magical Mystery Tour film and album. The Chrismas message was recorded on Tuesday 28th November 1967 in Abbey Road studios. Includes the rocking "Christmas Time is Here Again," (later released in conjunction with the Anthology-project) "Plenty of Jam Jars" (performed by fictional band the "Revellers"), and finally John's poem "When Christmas Time is Over." This was the last Christmas fan club recording where all four Beatles were in the studio together. |
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TITLE
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THE BEATLES 1968 CHRISTMAS RECORD | |||
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RELEASE DATE
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December 1968 | |||
| SLEEVE: FRONT--> Click! | SLEEVE: BACK--> Click! | LABEL -->Click! | DISK: SIDE 1 -->Click! | DISK: SIDE 2 -->Click! |
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| BACK COVER CLOSE UP |
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The art work is the same as on the 1967 U.K. jacket, but most of the text has been eliminated and replaced with "The Beatles 1968 Christmas Record" in black capital letters. |
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| On the back cover, Fan Club address of New York
office was printed. Sleeve printed and made in England. |
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| BACK COVER CLOSE UP | LABEL CLOSE UP | |||
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| Sleeve design by Julian Lennon, John Lennon and Ringo Starr. | The 1968 Fun Club record plays at 33 1/3 r.p.m. | The credit "PRODUCT OF AMERICOM CORP. N.Y.C. MADE IN U.S.A." was printed at the perimeter. | Matrix No. "H-2041-B" was etched at the side-2. | |
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OTHER ITEM
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| some with foolscap Fan Club newsletter (maybe) | ||||
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CATALOG NUMBER
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- |
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LABEL
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Americom Corp. | |||
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MIX
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Mono | |||
| MATRIX No. | Side1: H2041 A | |||
| Side2: H2041 B | ||||
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VINYL COLOR
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BLACK | |||
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PRODUCER
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- | |||
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COVER DESIGN/PHOTO/NOTES
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Cover design: Julian Lennon, John Lennon and Ringo Starr | |||
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RECORD COMPANY'S NAME
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PRODUCT OF AMERICOM CORP. N.Y.C. MADE IN U.S.A. | |||
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PUBLISHER'S NAME
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The Official Beatles Fan Club | |||
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PRINTER'S NAME
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SLEEVE: Printed and made in England | |||
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COMMENTS
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After two years of shoddy
postcard packaging, American Fan Club members finally received their
record in a cardboard sleeve. However, it was a modified version of the
1967 British jacket. The 1968 American sleeve was printed and manufactured in England. The art work is the same as on the earlier U.K. jacket, but most of the text has been eliminated and replaced with "The Beatles 1968 Christmas Record" in black capital letters. The U.S. record is a two-sided flexi-disc manufactured by Americom, who pressd the Beatles Pocket Discs. Its label information is printed in silver directly onto the center side-1 of the disc and features a drawing of the group's faces. |
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TITLE
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HAPPY CHRISTMAS 1969 | |||
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RELEASE DATE
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December 1969 | |||
| SLEEVE: FRONT--> Click! | SLEEVE: BACK--> Click! | LABEL -->Click! | DISK: SIDE 1 -->Click! | DISK: SIDE 2 -->Click! |
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| BACK COVER CLOSE UP | LABEL CLOSE UP | |||
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The jacket was manufactured by West Brothers Printers, Limited, of London, and designed by Ringo and his son Zak Starkey. |
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| On the back cover, printer's name "West Brothers" was printed. | Matrix No. "H-2465" was printed at the side-1. | |||
| LABEL CLOSE UP | ||||
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The 1969 Fun Club record plays at 33 1/3 r.p.m. |  |
The credit "PRODUCT OF AMERICOM CORP. N.Y.C. MADE IN U.S.A." was printed at the perimeter. | |
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OTHER ITEM
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| some with foolscap Fan Club newsletter (maybe) | ||||
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CATALOG NUMBER
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- |
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LABEL
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Americom Corp. | |||
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MIX
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Mono | |||
| MATRIX No. | Side1: H2465 A1 | |||
| Side2: H2465 B1 | ||||
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VINYL COLOR
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BLACK | |||
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PRODUCER
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- | |||
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COVER DESIGN/PHOTO/NOTES
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Cover design: Richard Sterkey and Zak Starkey | |||
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RECORD COMPANY'S NAME
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PRODUCT OF AMERICOM CORP. N.Y.C. MADE IN U.S.A. | |||
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PUBLISHER'S NAME
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The Official Beatles Fan Club | |||
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PRINTER'S NAME
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SLEEVE: Printed in England by West Brothers | |||
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COMMENTS
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The Beatles Christmas
record for 1969 followed same formula as the previous year. Rather than
gathering at the studio to record a group message or story, each Beatle
supplied a tape of holiday greetings, which were once again edited by
Kenny Everett (credited under his real name, Maurice Cole, on the
sleeve). The disk was issued in a 7 inch cardboard sleeve designed by a Beatle. Credited to Richard Starkey and Zak Starkey. The back of the sleeve has the British Fan Club logo in upper right corner. The jacket was manufactured by West Brothers Printers, Limited, of London. The American Fan Club received a shipment of the 1969 British Jackets for packaging its pressing of the Christmas record, which also a two-sided flexi-disc. The Americom manufactured disk has its label information printed in silver on side-1 and once again features a drawing of the group's faces. |
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