Do you love vinyl records? Are you a buyer, a seller, or are you interested in assessments or quotations? My advice is to learn more about these rare products which are known to be rich in content. Good collectors learn to investigate each of their peices and learn all the relevant details.
The vinyl record is more attractive than ever. Many people are, or are going to become, collectors. They especially appreciate the sound that come from the vinyl grooves: for vocal or instrumental performances, for the lyricism of the songs, for the often magnificent art cover. However, there is another important aspect that is more difficult to perceive: the history of the record. Reconstructing the history of the record means learning about it: it helps up appreciate it's importance, gives us some additional information to help us evaluate its worth.
Every day thousands of singles and albums are sold all over the world. Some of these sell at very high, mind-boggling prices. While running down the top ten highest paid vinyls in America we found a cover to be particularly striking for the phrase written on top: "The international battle of the century". This is how the album, "The Beatles vs. The Four Seasons", was presented on October 1, 1964. I invite you to follow me in my investigation of this album.
Who came up with it? Why was this battle on vinyl now forgotten by most? Why were the Beatles matched up againts the Four Seasons? Morning of February 7, 1964: Pan Am Boeing 707, Flight 101, lands in New York. Paul, George, John and Ringo walk down the ladder in front of a sea of screaming fans; they have reached American soil and are preparing to complete their conquest of the USA. Two days later 74 million Americans watch CBS's Ed Sullivan's Show and are capured by the Beatle's mini concert: five songs, played without any break, including "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which jumped to first place in the charts and remain there for twenty weeks.
To satisfy the insatiable demand from fans, record stores were flooded by successive waves of six LPs, 10 singles and two EPs between January and September, published from Capitol Records and Vee Jay Records.
The American record company's executives, who had initially underestimated the value of the Beatles, now fought hard legal battles (there were 64 lawsuits) for publishing rights. Vee Jay, who could not obtain the rights to new songs by the Beatles, tries to make the most of the material in it's possession and markets albums that are new only in apperance, as they contain only tracks that have already been published. They release "Jolly what! The Beatles & Frank Ifield On Stage", "Hear the Beatles tell all" and finally "The Beatles vs. the Four Seasons". This last is simply a repackaging of "Introducing the Beatles" and "Golden hits of the our Seasons".
The Four Seasons, over the past two years, had produced a number of No. 1 hits, but they had recently abandoned Vee Jay because of conflicts with royalties. As a marketing scheme Vee Jay Records invent the battle between the bands. On the back cover rules and an evaluation board were printed. Twelve rounds were planned. "I saw her standing there" versus "Sherry" is the first round, "Please please me" versus "Connie-O" the seventh, "Twist and shout" versus "Peanuts" in the last. The buyer is the sole judge of the contest and had to mark his preference in the boxes next to song titles. Despite the rampant Beatlemania, the disk only reaches No. 142 on the charts. Even so, years later, the fantasies of many people must have still been affected by this record because numerous parody bootlegs were produced.
In 1985 the label VE published "The Beatles" vs. the Third Reich ", a poorly recorded '62 live Beatles concert at Star Club in Hamburg, the album cover was identical. In 1986 Melvin Recvords published "The Beatles vs. Don Ho" (Hawaiian lounge music legend). Today, after 47 years, "The Beatles vs. the Four Seasons" is among the most expensive records you can buy.
