Stuff

We know people who say: I loved The Beatles and they are still popular. I have an original copy of Sgt Pepper. It must be worth a fortune.

And sometimes you see people on tv shows going into antique shops and finding records at high prices and thinking they will be good in auction.

Yes, it’s true, Beatles’ records do still sell, and some (new and old) command a high price. But also remember that the Beatles sold millions of records in a short time around the world. Nearly everything is common and ordinary.

If you have an early pressing of something, chances are there are still millions of them out there. If you’ve played it, then it probably is not in the greatest of conditions, certainly not mint. If the cover is a bit loved, no-one will be interested.

So probably, your early record is worth pennies. There are just too many others that are better. And just because someone on (say) eBay is asking a lot for some disc does not mean it is worth it. Records, and everything else, are only worth what people will pay.

Now, it IS possible you have something of value. Records that are rare are, well, rare. If they are unusual (and genuine) people may be interested. A foreign copy with an unusual cover, or a rare mix, or labels on the wrong sides… An authenticated signed disc… Something like this could command a small fortune, if you are lucky.

If not, just play it and enjoy it. You didn’t buy it as an investment, you bought it because you liked the music. That is something beyond value…

2025 already.

We’re starting the year doing something so many people seem to do but always get wrong. We’re taking all the studio albums by The Beatles and ranking them, best to worst, or rather worst to best.

You can yawn if you want, but so many folk do it and so why not us?

A few rules. Only UK studio albums, no live recordings. No compilations. No foreign versions. Only 12″ vinyl records. Nothing issued much after they broke up (really) like re-mixes or anthology projects or collections (but we accept Let It Be). No solo stuff. No early works from Germany. No bootlegs.

Just the 11 core albums, issued on Parlophone or Apple which are:

• Please Please Me
• With The Beatles
• A Hard Day’s Night
• Beatles For Sale
• Help!
• Rubber Soul
• Revolver
• Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
• The Beatles
• Abbey Road
• Let It Be

No Magical Mystery Tour as that was not issued as a 12″ in the UK at the time. We wondered about Yellow Submarine, not the songtrack but the original. More than half of that is not Beatles, and, of the six Beatles’ tracks, two had been issued before. So we have ignored it.

We’re using our original mono (except the last two) pressings, no supervinyl or remixes or anything modern and different, no digital or streaming. These are the albums as they came out, things we bought at the time and still have and still play.

You can vote for best or worst.

As for the rest, well, if you disagree you can tell us…