THE BEATLES: an exciting new discovery!

As many of you will know, at the end of 1970 the moribund Official Beatles Fan Club sent its members an LP entitled From Then To You, compiling the light-hearted 'Christmas message' flexidiscs they'd received from the band every Christmas between 1963 and 1969. Though it was pressed by Lyntone (who'd also made the flexis) instead of EMI, it was on the Apple label. The earlier messages tend towards sub-Goons / Stanley Unwin jollity, while the later ones have tentative studio effects and musical content. All are irritating on repeated listens, but worth a spin for serious fans. The sleeve reproduces the front covers of all seven discs, but offers no background info. A pressing size isn’t known, but as it was never commercially available, it’s extremely rare by the standards of their other official releases, changing hands for up to £1000 in perfect condition.

Last week an eBay seller named 933gone, based in Macclesfield, UK, listed what he called a 'MEGA RARE' copy of the album, with completely different labels to the Apple release. According to him, 'APPLE DECIDED TO CHANGE LABEL FROM LYNTONE TO APPLE. HOWEVER THE LYNTONE LP WAS PRESSED IN A VERY SHORT RUN AND IS, CONSEQUENTLY, EVEN RARER THAN THE APPLE LABEL VERSION. LYNTONE LABELED RECORD WAS GIVEN AWAY TO THE FAN CLUB STAFF, THE APPLE LABELED LPs GIVEN TO FAN CLUB MEMBERS.'

This will of course come as a startling revelation to long-term Beatles collectors. Intrigued, I emailed him to request evidence for the claim. Clearly a busy man, he disregarded that part of my message, but did have time to tell me: 'This is not a bootleg - bootleg versions have brown/beige label - this one is white label... Please look at the popsike site. There you will find the exact same record and label at £220 or 298 EUROS - its not described as a fake. I am an honest bayer - not a dealer.'

So there we have it - a fascinating artefact for serious Beatles collectors to fight over. No wonder it has already attracted a £200 bid! (PS He has also yet to reply to my contention that the American version of this that he's selling is a blatant counterfeit.)

THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF CAPTAIN MARRYAT & THE CUTTING LATHE

On April 16th of this year, an eBay seller named vinyl-network (based in Leicestershire) sold what he described as a BSR DR33M RECORD CUTTER / CUTTING LATHE & TURNTABLE DISC RECORDER, adding that it was a 'STUDIO QUALITY DISC CUTTER IN WORKING ORDER'.

Here's his description:

Being a thorough sort of chap, he assured interested bidders 'I have tested the lathe and have cut onto acetate disc to test whether it cut OK. Everything works perfectly.'

Two months later, on June 25th, he sold what he described as 'CAPTAIN MARRYAT RARE 1974 UK Original *MONO MIX* THOR ACETATE PROG PSYCH FOLK'. This listing was subtitled 'Incredibly Rare! Unreleased MONO Mix?? - Scottish Prog'. Here's a photo of that item:

His description reiterated that the acetate was 'extremely rare', and posited that 'in 1974 most mono pressings were or had been phased out by this point however this was probably mixed by request from the band'.

He could easily have had this conjecture confirmed by contacting some band members. Keyboardist Allan Bryce, who's readily available on Facebook and elsewhere, states: "As far as I know there were no originals that looked like this. It's the first time I have seen this. It's a fake." Bassist Tom Hendry, meanwhile, has this to offer: "It states in the details that the mono mix must have been requested by the band. I know that none of us did that. Definitely looks like a bootleg!"

Nonetheless, jet-propelled by his claims for its collectability and vintage status, it fetched the remarkable sum of £2249. It's little surprise to see that 'Seller does not offer returns' on this or the other acetates by super-collectible artists he has been selling recently.