Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums

People collect records for all kinds of reasons and different collectors are drawn to collecting different types of records.  Sometimes, however, these diverse interests can intersect.

Some collectors, for example, like to collect colored vinyl records.   Many collectors like to collect records by the Beatles.

And some collectors, not surprisingly, are interested in collecting Beatles colored vinyl albums.  It makes sense; both Beatles records and colored vinyl records are popular, and many Beatles colored vinyl albums have been released around the world over the years.

In this article, we’ll try to list all of the Beatles colored vinyl albums that are out there, though we can’t promise that this list will be complete.

While most of the variations are well known and documented, putting together a comprehensive list of all of the Beatles colored vinyl albums from Japan is difficult and perhaps impossible.

This article will only cover releases by record companies that were authorized or licensed to issue Beatles albums.  Bootleg and pirate albums are too numerous to document, so we’ll leave them out, though perhaps we’ll revisit that topic another time.

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Overview
Original Issue Colored Vinyl
Reissue Colored Vinyl by Country
Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums by Title
Known Variations
Summary

Featured Products

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Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums Overview

For purposes of this article, we’re going to cover Beatles colored vinyl albums, which basically means we’ll be talking about records that were either official releases, or which were pressed by the Beatles’ official record companies, and which were pressed on vinyl in some color other than black.

Most records are pressed from black vinyl, which is usually a vinyl compound that is naturally somewhat clear, but to which an additive has been added to make the vinyl appear black.  This is done because the natural color of the vinyl can vary widely from one batch to another.  Adding a carbon mixture makes the color more uniform.

Most of the Beatles colored vinyl albums released around the world over the years have been limited editions.  Some were by design, and others weren’t, but just sort of ended up that way for one reason or another.

Due to collector interest, prices for Beatles colored vinyl albums tend to be higher than for black vinyl copies of the same records from the same time period.  That is, a green vinyl UK pressing of Abbey Road from 1978 would likely sell for more money than a black vinyl UK pressing of the same album from 1978.

Original Issue Beatles Colored Vinyl

As far as we know, the only country in the world that released Beatles colored vinyl albums as original releases was Japan.

Japanese records were originally issued on the Odeon label, and were later reissued on the Apple labels.  Those albums were pressed by Toshiba, and Toshiba used a red-colored vinyl compound from 1958-1974 that they called “Everclean” vinyl.

This vinyl compound was created with hopes that it would have greater anti static properties than regular black vinyl and thus be less prone to collecting dust and grime.  It’s just a coincidence that the vinyl also happened to be red, rather than black.

Most Beatles titles released in Japan were pressed on red vinyl as original issues, though later pressings were usually black.

In Japan, the market for non-English language music is fairly small, so titles tended to not remain in print.  The record company would press as many albums as they thought they could sell, and then delete the title.

If demand warranted pressing it again, they’d reissue the album, sometimes with a different catalog number and usually with different obi on the cover.  An obi, or sash, is a paper strip that was wrapped around the album cover and which contained the album title, catalog number and price in Japanese.

These paper strips were often discarded after purchase, and finding vintage Beatles albums with the original obi intact can be quite difficult.

Some Japanese Beatles LPs were issued only once on red vinyl, while others, such as A Hard Day’s Night, were released as many as five times, each with a completely different obi.

Here is a list of all of the Beatles albums from Japan that were originally issued on red vinyl:

• Meet the Beatles – (Odeon OR-7041 mono)  Originally issued in April, 1964 with a white obi with blue print that draped over the cover but did not wrap around it completely.   This album was issued again in 1966 with a blue obi with a white triangle at the top, in 1967 with a green obi with an Odeon logo, and once more in 1970 with the same green obi, this time with an Apple logo and a new catalog number (AR-8026)While all copies are hard to find, especially with the obi, the first issue, with the hankake obi, or “half obi,” is exceptionally rare.
• The Beatles Second Album – (Odeon OR-7058 mono)  Originally issued in June, 1964 and like Meet the Beatles above, it was issued in mono only with a “half obi” and was also reissued in 1966, 1967, and 1970 (Apple AR-8027).  NOTE: This LP has a different track listing from the U.S. album of the same name and was issued only in mono.
• The Beatles Second Album (Apple AP-80012) This August, 1970 LP had the same title as the one above, but did have the same track lineup as the 1964 U.S. LP and was issued in stereo only.  White obi with a die-cut Apple.
• A Hard Day’s Night (Odeon OP-7123 stereo)  The last of three titles by the Beatles to be issued in 1964 with the “half obi.”  This album was also reissued in 1966, 1967, and in 1970 (Apple AP-8147).  This album had a cover that was unique to Japan, with a shot taken from the film that shows the band playing.
• Beatles for Sale (Odeon OP-7179 stereo) Originally issued in March, 1965 with an obi that was mostly green, early copies are also found with a brown one.  This album was also reissued in 1966, 1967 and 1969 (Apple AP-8442).
• Beatles No. 5 (Odeon OR-7193 mono)  This LP was unique to Japan and was originally released with a blue obi with a half circle at the top.  This album was reissued just one more time on red vinyl, in 1967 with a green obi.
• Help! (Odeon OP-7240 stereo) The original September, 1965 issue has the blue obi with the half circle at the top.  This title was reissued in 1967 on red vinyl with a green obi (Odeon) and in 1969 with a green obi (Apple) with a different catalog number (AP-8151)
• Rubber Soul (Odeon OP-7450 stereo)  The orginal March, 1966 pressing has the blue obi with the half circle at the top.  Reissued in 1967 with a green Odeon obi and again in 1970 with a green Apple obi and a different catalog number (AP-8156).
• Please, Please Me (Odeon OR-7548 stereo) The May, 1966 first release of this LP was issued with a cover that was unique to Japan to commemorate the Beatles’ visit there in 1966.  This album had a distinctive red obi with an Odeon logo and was reissued again on red vinyl in 1969 with the same obi that had an Apple logo and a different catalog number (AP-8675).
• With the Beatles (Odeon OR-7549) The May, 1966 first release of this LP was issued with a cover that was unique to Japan to commemorate the Beatles’ visit there in 1966.  This album had a distinctive red obi with an Odeon logo and was reissued again on red vinyl in 1969 with the same obi that had an Apple logo and a different catalog number (AP-8678).
• The Beatles Story (Odeon OP-7553-4 stereo)  This 2 LP documentary was released in August, 1966 as a box set.   First issue obi was blue with a white triangle at the top.  The album was later reissued on Apple in 1969 as (AP-8676-7)  As far as we know, only the original 1966 issue was pressed on red vinyl.
• Revolver (Odeon OP-7600 stereo) Released in 1966 with a blue obi with a white triangle, Revolver was also reissued in 1969 with a green obi with an Odeon logo (OP-8443)
• A Collection of Beatles Oldies (Odeon OP-8016 stereo) This February, 1967 release had a blue obi with a yellow triangle at the top.  The May, 1969 Apple reissue was also pressed on red vinyl as (AP-8016).
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Odeon OP-8163 stereo)  This 1967 release had a custom red obi with an Odeon logo.  The 1969 reissue on Apple had the same obi with an Apple logo and catalog number (AP-8163)
• Magical Mystery Tour (Odeon OP-9728 stereo)  Both the original 1967 release and the 1970 Apple reissue (AP-9728) were pressed on red vinyl.  This LP had a white obi with blue print for both issues.
• The Beatles (White Album) (Apple AP-8570-1 stereo) This January, 1969 release was issued on red vinyl and had a numbered cover with included photo inserts and a poster, as with the U.S. pressings.  This LP was issued with a green die-cut obi with an Apple logo that was wider than the rest of the obi.
• Yellow Submarine (Apple AP-8610 stereo)  This March, 1969 release had a white obi with red print and an Apple logo.
• Abbey Road (Apple AP-8815)  This October, 1969 release had a green die-cut obi.
• Let It Be (box set) (Apple AP-9009)  This June, 1970 limited edition box set contained the Let It Be album as well as the softcover book and was issued in packaging that was similar to the UK release.  Issued with a green die-cut obi.
• Let It Be (standard version) (Apple AP-80189) The standard version of Let It Be was issued in early 1971 and had a green die-cut obi as well as a second gold one.
• Beatles VI (Apple AP-80035)  Despite being released in the U.S. in 1965, Beatles VI wasn’t released in Japan until 1970.  This LP had a white obi with a green die-cut Apple.  The red vinyl pressing was very limited, and this title is one of the hardest Japanese Beatles LPs to find on red vinyl.
• The Early Beatles (Apple AP-80034)  Despite being released in the U.S. in 1965, The Early Beatles wasn’t released in Japan until 1970.  This LP had a white obi with a green die-cut Apple.
• Something New (Apple AP-80083)  Despite being released in the U.S. in 1964, Something New wasn’t released in Japan until 1970.  This LP had a white obi with a green die-cut Apple.
• Yesterday and Today (Apple AP-80061)  This LP, originally released in the U.S. in 1966, wasn’t released in Japan until October, 1970.  This version had a gatefold cover and a white obi with a green die-cut Apple.
• Beatles Without the Beatles (Odeon OR-7244 stereo)  This late 1965/early 1966 LP was not a Beatles album, but was instead a Japan-only compilation album of Beatles’ songs as covered by other artists.  It’s noteworthy because of the unusual photo of the Beatles on the cover.  The obi was likely the blue obi with the half circle on top.

As far as we know, the titles listed above are the only Beatles colored vinyl albums that were released on colored vinyl when originally released.

There were also a number of Japanese titles that were pressed on colored vinyl as reissues; we’ll cover those below.

Reissue Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums by Country

While Japan is the only country of which we’re aware that released Beatles colored vinyl albums as original releases, many countries have offered reissue pressings of colored vinyl Beatles albums.

Listed below are countries that have released Beatles colored vinyl albums, along with the titles and year of release.  To the best of our knowledge, all of these releases were limited editions that were offered for sale for only a short time.

Australia

To date, there have been three official colored vinyl Beatles albums released in Australia:

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone PCSO 7027)  A red vinyl release, issued in 1987.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”)  (Parlophone PCSO 7068)  A translucent white vinyl pressing, issued in 1987.
• Yellow Submarine (Parlophone PCSO 7070) A yellow vinyl pressing, released in 1987.

Other colored vinyl Beatles albums pop up from time to time, such as a green vinyl pressing of Abbey Road, but these are unauthorized pirate pressings.

Brazil

We’ve seen a few Beatles colored vinyl albums from Brazil in recent years, such as a blue vinyl or white vinyl pressing of Revolver, and a white vinyl pressing of Let It Be, but as far as we know, these are all unauthorized pressings.

Canada

To date, there have been six different Beatles colored vinyl albums released in Canada:

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Capitol SEAV 11840) Gray marbled vinyl, issued in 1978.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Capitol SEBX 11841)  White vinyl; 1978
• The Beatles 1962-1966 (Capitol SEBX 11842) Red vinyl; 1978
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Capitol SEBX 11843) Blue vinyl; 1978
• Love Songs (Capitol SEBX 11844) Yellow vinyl; 1978
• Reel Music (SV-12199)  Numbered, limited edition on yellow vinyl in 1982. These were promotional items.

The Sgt. Pepper and Love Songs LPs were widely imported into the United States when they were new.  The other titles are rarely seen outside of Canada.

Colombia

As far as we know, there has only been one colored vinyl Beatles album (and one 12″ single) released in Colombia, though others may exist:

• 20 Greatest Hits (EMI 11931) 1982 release on blue vinyl
• Hey Jude/Yesterday/A Hard Day’s Night (Apple 446-1046) 1980 12″ single issued on both yellow and green vinyl.

Ecuador

• • The Beatles 1962-1966 (EMI/Odeon 302-0088/89)  2 LP set on red vinyl, probably from 1978.  It’s likely that there was a blue vinyl pressing of The Beatles 1967-1970 set from Ecuador, as well, but we cannot confirm this.
  • Hey Jude (EMI/Odeon 302-0024)  This red vinyl pressing of the full album was likely released in the late 1970s.
  • Reel Music (EMI/Odeon 902-0001) 1982 release on blue vinyl.

France

There have been six Beatles colored vinyl albums released in France:

• Help! (Parlophone DC-25)  This 1978 release was pressed on orange vinyl with a “Disque en Colour” sticker on the cover.
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone DC-1) This 1978 release was issued on eight different colors of vinyl: yellow, red, blue, white, purple, green, orange, and clear with a “Disque en Colour” sticker on the cover.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Apple DC-21-22)  White vinyl release from 1978.  There were two issues – one with a “Disque en Colour” sticker and one with an apple-shaped sticker on the cover.
• Abbey Road (Apple DC-8)  Green vinyl with a “Disque en Colour” sticker on the cover.
• The Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple DC-17/18)  1978 first issue on red vinyl discs with a “Disque en Colour” sticker on the cover.
• The Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple 2C 162 05307/08) 1978 second issue on red vinyl with a round sticker with an Apple logo.
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple DC-19/20) 1978 first issue on blue vinyl discs with a “Disque en Colour” sticker on the cover.
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple 2C 162 05309/10) 1978 second issue on blue vinyl with a round sticker with an Apple logo.

Germany

To date, there have been only three Beatles colored vinyl albums released in Germany.

• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Apple 1C 172-04 173/74 ) This 1978 release was pressed on white vinyl and sold with two stickers on the cover – a red one and a gold one.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Apple DMM 1C 172-04 173/74)  This 1985 white vinyl reissue was direct-metal mastered, and has a black sticker that says “Pressung Weiss DMM” on the cover and says “DMM” on labels.  This particular pressing may be the best-sounding vinyl version of the White Album ever released anywhere.
• Beatles 1962-1966 – (Apple 1C 172-05 307/08) 1978 issue on red vinyl.  Rectangular sticker on cover.
• Beatles 1967-1970 – (Apple 1C 172-05 309/310) 1978 issue on blue vinyl.  Rectangular sticker on cover.
• Beatles 1962-1966 – DMM – (Apple 1C 172-05 307/08) 1985 red vinyl reissue.  Direct-metal mastered pressing.  Has round sticker that says “DMM” and also says “DMM” on labels.
• Beatles 1967-1970 – DMM – (Apple 1C 172-05 309/310) 1985 blue vinyl reissue.  Direct-metal mastered pressing.  Has round sticker that says “DMM” and also says “DMM” on labels.

Great Britain

There have been seven Beatles colored vinyl albums released in Great Britain:

• Magical Mystery Tour (Parlophone PCTC 255)  1978 yellow vinyl release; pressed for export to the U.S.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Apple PCS 7067/8) 1978 white vinyl release; pressed for export to the U.S.  Originally issued with a large sticker with two British flags indicating that the pressing was white vinyl.
• Abbey Road (Apple PCS 7088)  1978 green vinyl release; pressed for export to the U.S.
• Let It Be (Apple PCS 7096) 1978 white vinyl release; pressed for export to the U.S.
• Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple PCS 7171/72)  1978 red vinyl release
• Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple PCSPP 7171/72)  1993 red vinyl reissue
• Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple PCS 7181/82) 1978 blue vinyl release
• Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple PCSPP 7181/82)  1993 blue vinyl reissue
• Yellow Submarine (Apple 724352 14811 0A)  1999 yellow vinyl release with different cover from previous releases of the album.  Issued to coincide with the release of Yellow Submarine on home video.

Japan

There have been a dozen reissue Beatles colored vinyl albums from Japan:

• Beatles 1962-1966 (Odeon EAS 50021/22) 1978 release on red vinyl
• Beatles 1962-1966 (Odeon EAS 50021/22) 1982 release on red vinyl – same number as above, but different obi
  
• Beatles 1967-1970 (Odeon EAS 50023/24) 1982 release on blue vinyl
• Beatles 1967-1970 (Odeon EAS 50023/24) 1982 release on blue vinyl – same number as above, but different obi

In 1982, Odeon records ten different Beatles albums on red vinyl. These pressings were the UK versions of the albums, pressed in mono.

None of these titles had originally been issued in mono in Japan during the 1960s.

These red vinyl pressings used a different vinyl formula from the red vinyl pressings of the 1960s and early 1970s, with a lighter, more translucent color.

• Please Please Me (Odeon EAS-70130)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• With The Beatles (Odeon EAS-70131)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• A Hard Day’s Night (Odeon EAS-70132)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Beatles For Sale (Odeon EAS-70133)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Help! (Odeon EAS-70134)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Rubber Soul (Odeon EAS-70135)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Revolver (Odeon EAS-70136)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Odeon EAS-70137)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• The Beatles (Odeon EAS-67157-8)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.
• Yellow Submarine (Odeon EAS-70138)  Red vinyl 1982 issue.  Reissued in 1986 with same number and different obi.

For the 1986 series, a limited number of box sets (estimated at 1000 copies) were issued titled “The Beatles Original Mono Record Box.”  These box sets contained all ten of the albums listed above with no additional content.  All ten records were pressed on red vinyl.

Netherlands

There have been four different Beatles colored vinyl albums released in the Netherlands:

• Greatest Hits (Parlophone 5C 062-04207)  This 1978 release was issued on gold, purple, orange and yellow vinyl.  The gold vinyl version is relatively common; the other three colors are quite rare.
• Greatest Hits (Parlophone OMHS 3001)  Second issue on gold vinyl only.  Date unknown.
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Parlophone 5C 062-04177)  1978 yellow vinyl pressing.
• Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple 5C 184-05307/08)  1978 release on red vinyl
• Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple 5C 184-05309/10) 1978 release on blue vinyl

Peru

As far as we know, there has been only one colored vinyl Beatles album released in Peru:

• A Hard Day’s Night (EMI BE.02.0010) 1986 release on clear vinyl

South Africa

As far as we know, there were three colored vinyl Beatles albums released in South Africa:

• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”)  (Parlophone PCSJ 7068)  1978 issue on translucent white vinyl.
• The Beatles 1962-1966 (Apple PCSPJ 717/1/2) 1978 issue on translucent red vinyl.
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Apple PCSPJ 718/1/2) 1978 issue on translucent blue vinyl.

Spain

As far as we know, there has been only one colored vinyl Beatles album released in Spain:

• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Odeon 10C 064-04177)  This 1978 release was pressed on yellow vinyl.

Sweden

To date, there has been one colored vinyl Beatles album released in Sweden:

• Let It Be (Apple PCS 7096)  This 1978 limited edition was pressed on red vinyl.  Red sticker on the cover reads “Röd Vinyl Special Pressing.”

United States

There have only been four Beatles colored vinyl albums released in the United States:

• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Capitol SEBX 11841)  White vinyl; 1978.  Sold with large round sticker on shrink wrap indicating a white vinyl pressing.
• The Beatles 1962-1966 (Capitol SEBX 11842) Red vinyl; 1978.  Sold with large round sticker on shrink wrap indicating a red vinyl pressing.
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Capitol SEBX 11843) Blue vinyl; 1978.  Sold with large round sticker on shrink wrap indicating a blue vinyl pressing.
• Love Songs (Capitol SEBX 11844) Yellow vinyl.  These colored vinyl pressings were promotional items only; all stock copies were black.  Limited to 12,000 individually numbered copies.

Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums by Title

Nearly every album ever released by the Beatles has been issued on colored vinyl somewhere.   Here is a listing of all of the Beatles albums that we know were released on colored vinyl:

• A Collection of Beatles Oldies – Red vinyl (Japan)
• A Hard Day’s Night – Red vinyl (Japan), clear vinyl (Peru)
• Abbey Road – Issued on both red vinyl (Japan) and green vinyl (France and Great Britain)
• Beatles #5 – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Beatles VI – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Beatles 1962-1966 – Red vinyl (Canada, Ecuador,France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, U.S.)
• Beatles 1967-1970 – Blue vinyl (Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Japan, Netherlands, South Africa, U.S.,)
• Beatles for Sale – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Beatles Greatest Hits – Gold, purple, orange, yellow vinyl (Netherlands)
• Hey Jude – Red vinyl (Japan and Ecuador)
• Help! (U.S. version) – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Help! (UK version) – Red vinyl (Japan) orange vinyl (France)
• Let It Be (box set) – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Let It Be (regular LP) – Red vinyl (Japan, Sweden) white vinyl (Great Britain)
• Love Songs – Yellow vinyl (Canada)
• Magical Mystery Tour – Yellow vinyl (Great Britain)
• Meet the Beatles – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Please, Please Me – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Reel Music – Yellow vinyl (Canada and U.S. – both promo-only), blue vinyl (Ecuador)
• Revolver – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Rubber Soul – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band – Yellow vinyl (France, Netherlands, Spain) Red vinyl (Australia, France, Japan) gray marble vinyl (Canada) clear, blue, white, purple, green, orange vinyl (France)
• Something New – Red vinyl (Japan)
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”)  Red vinyl (Japan) white vinyl (Australia, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany, South Africa, U.S.
• The Beatles Second Album (Japan version mono) – Red vinyl (Japan)
• The Beatles Second Album (U.S. version stereo) – Red vinyl (Japan)
• The Beatles Story – Red vinyl (Japan)
• The Early Beatles – Red vinyl (Japan)
• With the Beatles – Red vinyl (Japan)
• Yellow Submarine – Red vinyl (Japan) yellow vinyl (Australia, Great Britain)
• Yesterday and Today – Red vinyl (Japan)

Known Variations

We are aware of a few odd variations on Beatles colored vinyl albums that have turned up over the years.  Occasionally, copies of any album that should be a single color will appear with a mixture of colors; this often happens when the pressing plant is changing from one color to another.

We’ve seen copies of the UK pressing of Abbey Road that should have been all green instead pressed with a mixture of green and black for instance.

There are also a few known examples of albums that were pressed in unusual colors for test purposes:

Great Britain

• Abbey Road (Apple PCS 7088)  A 1987 pressing of the album exists on red vinyl; there are reportedly only four copies known to exist.  All other copies of this pressing were on black vinyl.
• Yellow Submarine (Apple 724352 14811 0A)  At least three copies of this 1999 pressing are known to exist on red vinyl, when all other copies were yellow vinyl.

Japan

• The Best of the Beatles (Odeon OP-7177 stereo) (unreleased)  This Japan-only compilation LP was scheduled for a February, 1965 release date but was canceled.  Red vinyl test pressings exist, but no covers were ever printed.

United States

• Love Songs (Capitol SKBL-11711)  A few copies were pressed on brown marbled vinyl as a test.  While most of the copies that have turned up consist only of one record from the two record set, at least one complete copy exists where both records were pressed on colored vinyl.
• The Beatles 1967-1970 (Capitol SEBX 11843)  At least one experimental copy is known to exist with one disc pressed on clear vinyl.  Pressed in 1978.
• The Beatles (aka “The White Album”) (Capitol SEBX 11841) During testing phases for the intended release of this album on white vinyl, a few copies of the first disc only were pressed on either marbled gray vinyl or marbled pink and white vinyl.
• Beatles VI (Capitol ST 2358)  At least one experimental copy is known to exist on clear vinyl.  Pressed in 1978.
• A Hard Day’s Night (United Artists UAL 3366)  One copy of the U.S. mono version of this album is know to exist on pink vinyl.  This record was found at a yard sale in Los Angeles in the 1990s.

Beatles Colored Vinyl Albums Summary

If you’re a record collector, a collector of colored vinyl, or a collector of Beatles records, you’ll likely find Beatles colored vinyl albums to be of interest.

We’ve counted close to 30 different albums by the Beatles that have been released commercially on one or more colors of vinyl.  Some of them are relatively common, and others are rare to the point where you’ll likely never see one, let alone own one.

Most of them, however, are common enough and affordable enough that anyone with more than a passing interest in the Beatles might want to own one or more of them.

Beatles colored vinyl albums have the same great music as the black vinyl versions, of course, but they offer something that’s just a little more exciting to see when they’re spinning on your turntable.

Click here to see our selection of Beatles colored vinyl albums.

Vinyl Records Value

What are my records worth? That’s a common question these days as record albums are making a comeback among both casual music fans and hard core collectors. People are aware that some records are valuable, but most people don’t know exactly which records people are looking for or why they’re looking for them.

Establishing vinyl records value is an inexact science, and there are a number of factors that go into determining whether a given record is something that will bring a lot of money from a collector or something that would best be used as a place mat.

In this post, we’ll go over a number of factors that may determine the value of a particular record. Keep in mind that there are many factors that need to be taken into consideration, and it’s quite rare for a record to be valuable based on one factor alone. It’s usually a combination of things that add to a vinyl record’s value, and other factors can sometimes turn a valuable record into one that isn’t worth all that much seemingly overnight.

The list of qualities that can affect a vinyl record’s value is constantly changing, and the list shown below should not be considered to be definitive. As this post on vinyl records value is going to be fairly lengthy, we’ll divide it into sections.

Vinyl Records Value Categories

Click any of the links below to jump to each category:

Age of the Record
Who is the Artist?
Overall Scarcity
Sealed Records
Autographed Records
Commercial vs. Promotional Issues
Small Label vs. Major Label
Label Variations
Mono vs. Stereo vs. Quadraphonic
Colored Vinyl and Picture Discs
Picture Sleeves
Acetates and Test Pressings
Foreign Editions
Limited Editions
Withdrawn Releases
Counterfeit Records
Reissues and Falling Prices
Condition of the Record
Finding Recent Prices
Conclusion

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Age of the Record

Many of the people we’ve spoken to about records over the years have the impression that “old records” must be worth more than new ones. While the age can have an effect on a vinyl record’s value, it’s one of the less important factors. Releases from early in the career of a famous artist may have more value than those from later in their careers, particularly if they didn’t become famous right away. A good example of this would be the recordings of Elvis Presley. While his first five records for the Memphis-based Sun label sold reasonably well for their day, their sales figures were minuscule compared to those of his later releases on RCA, making the Sun versions fairly valuable.

On the other hand, records by artists that are not of interest to collectors will have little value, regardless of age. There are many records in the easy listening genre from the 1950s, such as those by Ray Conniff or Percy Faith, that are now some 60 years old, but they still sell for only a couple of dollars in most used records stores, provided they bother to offer them for sale at all.

“Old records” may have some value, but as a rule, it’s not because they’re old. It’s because of something else.

Who is the Artist?

This should be obvious, but the artist in question will be a big factor in determining the value of a record. While tens of thousands of artists have released records since the invention of the medium, not all of them interest the public in equal measure.

Some artists are simply more popular as well as more collectible than others. Artists in the rock, blues, jazz, classical and soul categories tend to be more collectible than those in the easy listening, country, spoken word or comedy categories.

Some artists tend to have a longtime following, while others are popular only while they are actively recording. With the former, such as Elvis Presley, Pink Floyd, blues singer Robert Johnson, or the Beatles, many of their records remain both valuable and highly collectible long after they stopped recording or even after their deaths.

Other artists may have had records with high values only during the time they were recording, with prices in the collector market dropping considerably after they finished their careers or when they passed away.

In the late 1970s, for example, Todd Rundgren and the Cars were highly collectible, but these days, there’s little interest in their recordings. On the other hand, records by the Beatles are selling for the highest prices ever and prices remain steady more than 50 years after they released their last album.

Exceptions to that exist; that can come in the form of artists who were never particularly popular, but who were influential in the industry. That’s true of artists such as Robert Johnson, the Velvet Underground, or the Stooges. None of these artists were very successful and their records sold poorly when new. All three were enormous influences on other musicians, however, and as a result, their records sell for surprisingly high prices today.

Still, as a rule, popular artists will have records with higher values than obscure ones.

Overall Scarcity

This factor is pretty straightforward when it comes to vinyl records value; records that sold well and are quite common are going to be less valuable than records that sold poorly or are hard to find. A lot of albums sold in the 1970s and early 1980s sold millions of copies when new, and as such, it isn’t difficult to find copies in nice, playable condition.

That being the case, such records aren’t likely to sell for very much money in the collectors market.

On the other hand, even records that sold well when new can become scarce in time, especially when one takes the condition of the record into account. Albums by Elvis Presley and the Beatles sold millions of copies when they were first released, but finding nice original copies of those records now can be difficult, as many have been thrown away or damaged through heavy play or abuse.

People have tended to take better care of their records in recent decades, so it’s a lot easier to find a nice copy of a 1980s album by Bruce Springsteen than it is to find a near mint 1960s album by the Rolling Stones, for example.

“Common” is also relative; records that sold well in the 1950s and 1960s still sold in substantially smaller quantities than those sold in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1950s, it was rare for even a popular album to sell much more than a million copies. By the 1980s, albums selling more than 5 million copies were relatively common.

What the “common vs. scarce” factor means is that the most valuable record by a particular artist may not be their best-known title, but rather one that was disregarded by the public and/or critics when originally released, making it relatively scarce today. A good example of this would be Music from the Elder by Kiss, released in 1981. Released after a string of best-selling albums, Music from the Elder had a different sound from their previous releases and offered no hit songs and no songs that regularly received airplay. As a result, the album sold poorly and soon went out of print.

The group went back to making records that were similar to their earlier releases and sales of subsequent albums were brisk, making the now hard-to-find Music From the Elder a collector’s item.

Sealed Records

One factor that’s of vital importance in determining a vinyl record’s value is condition, which we’ll discuss at length later. Because the condition of a record is held to be important by collectors, the ideal example of a record to own, in the eyes of many collectors, would be one that has never been played at all. Because of this, collectors will often pay a huge premium for sealed, unopened examples of records they are seeking.

When record albums were first offered in the late 1940s, they were sold without any external wrapping on the cover. Customers in record stores could remove the records from the cover and many stores would even allow them to play the records to help them make a buying decision. This led to problems with both theft and damage, and by the early 1960s, a number of large retailers started sealing their albums in plastic bags. Eventually, this practice was picked up by the major record companies, who began protecting their covers with shrink wrap.

In general, a copy of an album that is still in original, unopened shrink wrap will sell for a lot more money than one that is in opened condition, even if the opened copy has not been played.

The difference in price can range from modest to quite significant, depending on the artist and title. A sealed copy of a relatively recent release may carry a small premium over an opened copy, but older and/or more desirable titles may exhibit a substantially larger premium. Sealed copies of older albums by the Beatles might sell for as much as ten times the price of an opened example, for instance.

This is a case where age can affect vinyl records value, as the older an album is, the harder it is to find a copy that has never been opened or played.

Autographed Records

One factor that can influence vinyl records value is having the autograph of the artist on it. While autographed albums and single aren’t particularly common (while forgeries of them are), they usually do command a premium over regular copies of the record that are not signed.

Autographed records that are personalized, such as “To Jane, best wishes…” tend to sell for less money than those that simply have the artist’s signature on it. When it comes to musical groups and autographs, albums that are autographed by the entire group will sell for substantially higher prices than those with the signatures of some, but not all, members.

Autographed records with provenance, such as a photograph of the artist signing the record, tend to bring the highest prices of all.

Commercial vs. Promotional Issues

One factor that can affect vinyl records value is if the record in question is a promotional issue, as opposed to a commercial, or “stock,” copy of the record. Promotional, or “promo,” copies of a record are often identified in some way, and they often have a special label that indicates that the particular records was made for promotional, or radio station, use. While the labels on most records are colored, many promotional issues have white labels, which has led to the term “white label promo” being used among collectors.

Promotional copies of records are usually pressed before retail, or “stock” copies to ensure that they reach radio stations prior to the commercial release of the record. They are also pressed in relatively small quantities compared to stock copies of the same records. While an album may sell in the millions, there may be only a few hundred promotional copies made of that same record, making them collector’s items.

Sometimes, promotional copies of a particular record may be different from the stock counterpart. The promotional copies of the Beatles’ single “Penny Lane” had a different ending than the version of the song on the stock copies of the single, making these rare copies quite valuable in comparison to the million-selling stock counterpart.

On other occasions, a record may be issued only as a promotional item. Such albums may be live recordings, made for radio broadcast, or perhaps compilation albums, again intended to stimulate airplay. These “promo-only” releases are usually sought after by collectors, though the interest in them will be directly related to the interest in the artist. A promo-only Rolling Stones record, for example, will attract far more interest from collectors than one by Andy Williams.

As a rule, a promotional copy of any record will command higher prices in the collector’s market than the stock counterpart, though there are occasional situations where the opposite is true. Some records have sold so poorly in  stores that the promotional copies are actually more common than the stock counterparts. A good example of this is the Beatles’ first single, “My Bonnie,” which was credited to Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers. Promotional copies with a pink label, while relatively rare, are probably ten times more common than the stock copies with black labels, of which fewer than 20 copies are known to exist.

We have written an extensive article about white label promo records; you can read it here. (new window)

Small Label vs. Major Label

This issue of scarcity comes into play when one looks at whether a particular record was released by a small, regional label or a large national one. Larger labels have national distribution and multiple pressing plants, and popular records might be pressed in the millions. Smaller labels might press only a few hundred or several thousand copies of a particular record.

There are examples of records being initially released on small labels and then later released on larger labels when the small record company negotiated a distribution deal with the larger label in order to sell more records. An example of this would be the 1963 surf album Pipeline by the Chantays, which was originally released on the California-based Downey label. When the song became a hit, Downey struck a deal with the nationally distributed Dot records to have them release the album instead. Today, copies of the album on the Downey label are far harder to find than their Dot counterparts, and sell for higher prices.

Sometimes an artist will release records on a small label and then move to a larger one. In these cases, their earlier releases tend to be more collectible than their later ones. The country group Alabama released a couple of albums on the small LSI label under the name “Wild Country” before changing their name and moving to the large RCA label. As the records by the group issued by RCA sold quite well, they tend to sell for modest prices. The two albums on LSI, on the other hand, are quite rare and sell for several hundred dollars or more when they’re offered for sale.

Another example, also in the country genre, is the first album by Jim Reeves. His first album, Jim Reeves Sings, was issued in 1956 on the small Abbott label. When that album began to sell well, Reeves moved to major label RCA. While his RCA albums sell for modest prices, his lone album on Abbot has sold for as much as $1000.

Label Variations

A significant factor in determining a vinyl record’s value is the label on the record itself. A given album or single might have been released with several different labels on the disc itself, even among releases by the same record company.

Record companies often change the appearance of the labels used on their records. While it has happened less often in recent decades, changes in label art an appearance were quite common among the major labels during the 1960s and 1970s.

Records by the Beatles, for instance, were released by Capitol Records on a black label with a rainbow colored perimeter, a green label, a red label, a custom Apple label, an orange label, a purple label, and a new version of the original black label, all over a period of less than 20 years.

As a rule, collectors tend to favor original pressings, so for a given title, the most desirable label variation would be whichever one was in use on the day the record was originally released for sale to the public. There are exceptions to this, however. The red Capitol label mentioned above was commonly used in the early 1970s for a number of titles, but was never intended to be used for records by the Beatles. A few copies of the band’s Revolver and Yesterday and Today albums were accidentally issued with that label, and despite not being “original” issues, they do sell for quite a lot of money on the collector’s market.

Sometimes, minor differences on labels can make a difference, as well. The first copies of Meet the Beatles to be sold in America were rushed to the stores without including publishing information for the songs on the record. While later copies had either “BMI” or “ASCAP” after each song title, the very first issues of the album sold in stores lacked this text. While this might seem to be a minor matter, the difference in value between a copy that lacks the text and one that has it can be more than $1000, depending on condition.

As many albums by popular artists have remained in print for many years, or even decades, the label on the record in question is often a significant factor in determining that vinyl record’s value.

Mono vs. Stereo vs. Quadraphonic

A significant factor that can affect a vinyl record’s value is the format. Until 1957, records were sold only in mono. Between 1957 and 1968, records were usually sold in both mono and stereo, and between about 1972 and 1976, a few records were available in 4 channel quadraphonic sound. During the time when records were sold in more than one format simultaneously, one of the formats was usually pressed in smaller quantities than the other. Mono records were more common than their stereo counterparts in the early 1960s, for instance, but were the harder variation to find by 1968. Quadraphonic pressings were always intended for a niche market, and never sold in large quantities, except in the few cases where all copies of a particular title were encoded in quadraphonic sound.

While the value of a mono record in relation to its stereo counterpart will depend on when the record was released, quadraphonic copies are almost always worth more money than the same album in stereo.

The topic of mono vs. stereo is a complex one, and we have  covered that in detail in another article which you can read here. (new window.)

Colored Vinyl and Picture Discs

While most records are pressed from black vinyl, sometimes other colors are used. On rare occasions, a special process is used to create a picture disc, which has a photograph or other graphics actually embedded in the record’s playing surface. With few exceptions, colored vinyl and picture disc pressings are limited editions, and are usually far harder to find than their black vinyl counterparts.

Both colored vinyl pressings and picture discs have been issued as commercial releases and as promo-only releases. In the early 1960s, Columbia Records would occasionally press promotional copies of both singles and albums on colored vinyl (we’ve seen red, yellow, blue, green, and purple) in order to grab the attention of radio programmers.

In the late 1970s, picture discs were often pressed as promotional items and became quite popular among collectors. Most of these were pressed in quantities of only a few hundred copies.

More often, colored vinyl and picture disc records are issued as limited edition pressings, created to spur interest among buyers. Most of these titles are also available on regular (and more common) black vinyl.

As with everything else on this list, there are occasional exceptions to the rule. Elvis Presley’s last album to be issued while he was alive was Moody Blue, which was pressed on blue vinyl when originally released. A couple of months later, RCA Records began to press the album on regular black vinyl as a cost-cutting move, which would have made the earlier blue vinyl pressings relatively rare and desirable as time passed. Shortly after this decision was made, Elvis passed away, and the label made the decision to return to using blue vinyl for that album, and all pressings for the next ten years or so were issued on blue vinyl. In the case of Moody Blue, it’s the black vinyl pressings, which were only pressed for a short period of time, that are the rare ones.

We’ve written articles about colored vinyl and picture discs, and you can read it here:

Colored vinyl article (new window)
Picture disc article (new window)

Picture Sleeves

While vinyl record albums usually include printed covers, most 45 RPM singles do not, as they were generally issued in plain paper sleeves. It was not uncommon, however, for singles to be issued in special printed sleeves bearing the title of the song, the name of the artist and perhaps a graphic or photograph. These are known as picture sleeves or title sleeves, and most of the time, these picture sleeves were available only with the original issues of the records. While not intended as limited edition items per se, picture sleeves were designed to spur sales and were often discontinued once sales of the record began to increase.

For various reasons, some picture sleeves are harder to find than others, and there are a number of records, some by famous artists, where certain picture sleeves are rare to the point where only a few copies are known to exist. Some picture sleeves, such as “Street Fighting Man” by the Rolling Stones, which was withdrawn prior to release, can sell for more than $30,000.

Others are rare, but not to that degree. The picture sleeve for the Beatles’ single “Can’t Buy Me Love” were commercially available, but were only printed by one of Capitol Records’ pressing plants, making it available only for a short time and only in the eastern United States. It’s one of the rarest commercially available Beatles picture sleeves, and mint copies have sold for more than $1000.

This is one of the factors that pretty much has no exceptions; a record with a picture sleeve is always more valuable than the same record without one.

Acetates and Test Pressings

While the majority of records are standard issues that were manufactured with the intention that they be sold in stores, some are pre-production versions that were made for in-house use at the record companies prior to making the stock pressings.

Acetates, or lacquers, as they are more properly known, are records that are individually cut on a lathe by a recording engineer. The recordings are cut on metal plates that are coated with soft lacquer. Acetates are the first step in the process of making a record, as they can be plated with metal and used to make stampers for production of the copies sold in stores.

They can also be played on a turntable and are often used to evaluate the sound of a song or an album prior to putting it into formal production. While acetates can be played as one would play any regular record, they don’t wear particularly well and will become quite noisy after only a few plays.

On rare occasions, acetates have been sent to radio stations as promotional items when regular pressings were not yet available.

As acetates are cut one at a time, they are understandably rare, and command a high value in the market place as they are both rare and unusual.

Test pressings are a bit more common than acetates, and are made to test stampers prior to mass produced production runs. They are usually the first pressings made from a set of stampers, and can be distinguished by their labels, which will differ from those used on stock pressings. Test pressings may have blank white labels or they may have special labels that indicate that they are test pressings. These custom labels usually have blank lines printed on them so that the people working with them can write the title and artist on the labels by hand.

As with acetates, test pressings are usually used for evaluation purposes by record company personnel, though they are occasionally sent out as promotional items. As they are rather unusual and limited in production to just a handful of copies, test pressings are highly regarded and sought out by collectors. Sometimes, test pressings may contain different versions of one or more songs from the commercially released albums. This can also add to their value.

Test pressings of Bruce Springsteen’s 1975 album Born to Run were sent to radio stations in a cover that had the album title in a different font from commercial releases. These so-called “Script Cover” pressings of the album have sold for more than $1000.

We have written a more in-depth article about test pressings and acetates. You can read it here. (new window)

Foreign Editions

Records pressed in foreign countries are often of interest to record collectors. While most collectors are interested in records from the country where they live, a lot of them are interested in owning anything unusual by the artists that interest them.

Most record albums are designed by record companies in either the United States or Great Britain, and most releases from either country are nearly identical. Other countries, however, have been known to create dramatically different versions of records from the U.S. or UK counterparts.

Sometimes, foreign pressings may have different titles, or different covers from the more common versions from the U.S. or UK. On other occasions, record companies in other countries may choose to press albums on colored vinyl.

Many albums from Japan from the late 1950s through the early 1970s were pressed on dark red vinyl. Japanese pressings were also issued with a paper sash, or “obi,” that wrapped around the cover and provided information for the buyer in Japanese.

These pressings are highly regarded by collectors for both their unusual appearance and their sound quality.

If an artist is not from the United States, collectors will often seek out records from the artist’s country of origin. While many American Beatles records are worth a lot of money, so are those from Great Britain, as the band released records there prior to releasing them in the U.S.

Prices for foreign (non-U.S.) records can vary widely, depending on age, condition, and all of the other factors mentioned in this article. In general, collectors in the United States will always be interested, to some degree, in any foreign record by artists whose records they collect.

We’ve written a detailed article about Japanese records. You can read it here. (new window)

Limited Editions

While scarcity can be a major factor in a vinyl record’s value, intentional scarcity can affect it even more. While limited edition pressings of albums are a relatively new thing, they are now quite common, with record companies intentionally limiting releases to a few hundred or a few thousand copies.

In past decades, when records were the predominant format for selling music, record companies were content to sell as many copies as possible of a given title. In recent years, records have become more of a niche item, and record companies are somewhat hesitant to spend the money to master, press, and distribute them. By producing only a limited number of a given title, and by making it publicly known that production will be limited to xxx number of copies, the record companies have a greater likelihood of having a particular title sell out quickly, rather than sitting on a shelf for a period of months or years.

Sometimes, these limited editions are individually numbered, while most are not. Sometimes, a limited number of copies of a given album will be pressed on colored vinyl, with a larger number pressed on black vinyl. In some cases, such as with the soundtrack album to the 2010 film Inception, all copies are colored vinyl and they are numbered as well.

Limited edition pressings by most any artist will have some value above the original selling price, as record companies are unlikely to issue limited edition pressings if there is no established market for them.

The exception to this would be records from companies that do not ordinarily release records, such as the Franklin Mint. Over the years, the Franklin Mint has released a number of recordings as limited edition sets, usually spanning many volumes. Most of these recordings were also pressed on colored vinyl and the sets were marketed in mass media to consumers who were not record collectors. These recordings have little value unless they are offered in complete sets, some of which came with as many as 100 records.

Withdrawn Releases

Occasionally, record companies release an album or single, only to change their mind and withdraw it from general release. This can happen for a number of reasons, ranging from a corporate decision that may or may not have anything to do with the record itself, a decision by the artist to change the product after release, or even an announcement by prominent retailers that they will refuse to sell the record as released.

Regardless of the reason for withdrawing the record from circulation, such releases will naturally be scarce, hard to find, and in demand among collectors. More often than not, withdrawn releases will also command substantial prices on the collector market.

Listed below are a few examples of record albums which were withdrawn from the market shortly before or shortly after being released to stores.

Angel – Bad Publicity – The 1979 album Bad Publicity had a cover that depicted the band having a raucus party in a hotel room. After only a handful of copies had been issued as promotional items, the album was withdrawn, retitled to Sinful, and released with completely different artwork showing the band in white suits against a white background.

Prince – The Black Album – In 1987, Prince intended to release an untitled album that had an all-black cover on which neither a title nor the name of the artist appeared. The so-called “Black Album” was withdrawn prior to release at the request of Prince himself, for reasons that remain unclear to this day. A few copies have leaked out over the years, and they have sold for as much as $25,000.

The Beatles – When retailers complained about the original cover art for the Beatles’ 1966 album Yesterday and Today, which showed the band sitting on a bench with broken dolls and raw meat, Capitol Records ordered all copies returned from stores and radio stations. The cover was replaced by a picture of the band sitting around a steamer trunk.

This so-called “Butcher Cover” is perhaps the best known record in all of record collecting, and copies have sold for thousands of dollars.

We have written an extensive article about the Beatles Butcher cover. You can read it here. (new window)

Counterfeit Records

Whenever there’s a commodity that is worth money to people, there are unscrupulous people who try to take advantage of them by forging that commodity. Paintings have been forged, currency has been counterfeited, and unfortunately, so have many rare records.

While there are many factors that go into determining vinyl records value, perhaps none is more important than the need for the record to be an original pressing and not a counterfeit pressing created at a later date to resemble the original issue.

Counterfeit records first appeared on the market in the late 1960s or early 1970s and while the early attempts were rather obvious and fairly crude, technology has improved in recent years, making many counterfeit records difficult for the layman to identify. The practice isn’t limited to rare or valuable titles, either, as a number of mass-produced titles were counterfeited in the late 1970s. These titles were sold by chain record stores alongside the legitimate record company issues.

If a record routinely sells for a lot of money, there is a good chance that the title in question has been counterfeited. Many albums by the Beatles, along with other popular artists such as the Yardbirds, Elvis Presley, and Pink Floyd, have been counterfeited. In a few cases, such as the Beatles album Introducing the Beatles, counterfeit copies may actually outnumber the real ones.

It goes without saying that a counterfeit copy of a rare record will have limited value when compared with an original pressing.

We have written an extensive article about counterfeit records. You can read it here. (new window)

Reissues and Falling Prices

One factor that can significantly affect a vinyl record’s value is the availability of reissues. In the 1950s through the mid-1970s, record companies kept close tabs on whether an album was selling well or poorly. Poor selling albums were usually removed from the catalog and existing copies were sold at a discount. Starting in the 1980s, record companies took a different approach, and reduced the prices of slow-selling records, keeping them in print but offering them for sale at a lower price point.

Collectors often become interested in records that have gone out of print, and the prices for these no longer available titles can get quite high, depending on the artist and title. In these cases, collectors are usually paying high prices simply to hear the music. Record companies do pay attention to such market trends, and today, it’s quite common to see newly-pressed reissues of albums for sale that haven’t been available on the market in decades.

In the case of some albums, which may have only been originally for sale from small record companies, these reissues might actually sell more copies than the original album. When an album is reissued, the original vinyl record’s value usually falls in the marketplace. While some collectors remain interested in owning an early or an original pressing of a recently reissued album, there are others who are only interested in hearing the music, and will be happy to own a reissued version of the album instead.

Reissues can often affect a vinyl record’s value dramatically, and sometimes, the price of original pressings can drop as much as 90% when a formerly rare album again becomes available as a newly-released record.

Condition of the Record

While all of the factors listed above are important when it comes to evaluating a vinyl record’s value, perhaps none is as important as the condition of the record. Most mass produced records sold over the past 60 years or so have been poorly cared for by their owners. They may have been played on low-quality equipment, stored outside of their covers, and handled by their playing surfaces, rather than their edges.

Record changers, which were phonographs that were capable of playing up to a dozen records in sequence, were popular in the 1960s and 1970s and were particularly prone to adding scratches and abrasions to a record’s playing surface. Many covers were poorly stored, leading to ring wear or splits in the covers. Furthermore, owners often wrote their names or other information on the record’s cover or label.

Collectors are interested in buying records in the best possible condition, and ideally, they’d like to own copies of all of their records in the same condition in which they were originally sold – mint and unplayed, with pristine covers.

Finding a copy of any record that is more than 20 years old in such condition is quite difficult, and the value of a record can vary widely depending on its condition. In the case of many records from the late 1950s and early 1960s, finding worn and nearly-unplayable copies of a particular record might be relatively easy, while finding one in mint condition may be nearly impossible.

In the case of such records, a mint copy might sell for 50 times as much money as a worn-out copy of the same record.

When it comes to a vinyl record’s value, condition is paramount, and worn copies of a record usually sell for modest amounts of money except in the cases of items that are rare to the point of being unique.

In the case of records that are common to moderately rare, any copy that isn’t in nearly new condition may have little to no value at all.

While some collectors are willing to accept “filler” copies of a rare record in poor to average condition until they find a better copy, most buyers prefer to buy only once, and will hold out for the best possible copy they can find.

What does all of this mean? It means that if you’re someone who has a box of “old records” and you want to know about those vinyl records’ value, you’ll likely discover that they’re common titles in average to poor condition and they’re likely not worth very much money.

On the other hand, if you have a rare record that is also in exceptionally nice condition, you’ll likely be able to sell it for a premium price.

Finding Recent Prices

Starting in the late 1970s, the easiest way to find out about vinyl records value was to consult a price guide. Over the past 40 years, a number of books have been published every other year or so that list the value of certain types of records. There are price guides for rock albums, jazz albums, classical albums, 45 RPM singles, country records, and soundtrack and original cast recordings. There are also specialty price guides for records from Japan, records by the Beatles and records by Elvis Presley.

While these guides have served collectors and sellers fairly well, the books are bulky, somewhat expensive, and have a tendency to become outdated rather quickly. That’s not to say that they aren’t useful; on the contrary, they serve as valuable references. Furthermore, even the outdated price guides can offer insight as to how a vinyl record’s value has increased over time. It’s amusing to look at price guides from the late 1970s to see how albums that might sell for $1000 today were once listed as having a value of $35 or so.

Record price guides are still published today and they’re still useful tools. On the other hand, there are also some online tools that can provide some more accurate and up to date information regarding vinyl records value. Several sites, for example, monitor the sales of records on the eBay auction site and archive them, making it possible for you to see what a particular records might have sold for yesterday, or last month, or even five years ago.

As there are millions of records for sale on eBay, including multiple copies of most records at one time, the marketplace is somewhat of a buyer’s market, which means that the prices of most records sold on the site are somewhat lower than they might be in a record store or in a private transaction between two collectors.

Still, the millions of record sales on the site each year do provide some good insight into overall vinyl records value, and can also show trends over the past decade or so. This makes it easy to see if a particular record is increasing in value over time or going down as interest sometimes wanes.

While there are a number of different sites that track and archive record sales on eBay our favorite is:

Popsike.com – This site is free to use for a limited, but unspecified, number of searches. After a certain number of searches, you’ll be asked to register, which is free. If you exceed a further (unspecified) limit, you’ll be asked to subscribe. Currently, the cost of subscribing to Popsike is about $35 per year, though most users will never use the service enough to reach the threshold that requires paying a subscription fee.

Popsike’s home page has a few lists of popular searches, as well as lists of recent sales in certain popular categories, such as blues, Beatles, classic rock, jazz, and classical. You can search by artist or title and you can sort results by price or date of sale. Popsike has listings for record sales on eBay going back to 2003, though they note that their database is neither definitive nor exhaustive.

Discogs.com – This site offers records for sale along with photos, release dates, and other information regarding records of all kinds.  It’s free to use as a reference; to buy or sell records at the site, you must create an account.  One useful feature of the site is that all listings for titles that have previously been sold on the site list the average and highest prices for previous sales.  This makes the site useful for finding the approximate value of a particular title.

Vinyl Records Value Conclusion

We hear from people all the time – “I have some records. What are they worth?” With most commodities, the answer is a fairly simple one. If you have an ounce of gold, it’s worth a certain amount of money. The same applies to a barrel of oil.

That’s not the case with records, however. Vinyl records value is determined by a number of factors, including condition, scarcity, the name of the artist, and a host of other things, both obvious and obscure.

Because the value of a particular record is tied to so many factors, it’s difficult to give a general answer as to its value without knowing all of the particulars about that particular pressing.

The quickest way to find out is to check with Popsike for a quick glance at recent sales. Keep in mind that these prices reflect retail sales, and not the amount of money that you’d receive if you’re selling to a store or a reseller. Keep in mind that the highest prices are paid for copies in near mint condition, which may or may not apply to the records you currently have in your possession.

Record collecting is a fascinating hobby, however, and the many factors that can go into determining vinyl records value are among the things that keep the hobby interesting to collectors.

Click here to visit our rare records store.

Butcher Cover – The Beatles’ Best-Known Album

Record collecting is a vast hobby, and often an obscure one. The prices that collectors pay for certain records would likely baffle a large segment of the public, and many valuable records are those by artists that aren’t even well known to the public at large.

There’s one huge exception to that, however. The original release of the album Yesterday and Today by the Beatles, with the so-called “Butcher cover”, is one of the most widely recognized valuable albums in the world, and one that is known to many non collectors. It’s also an album that many people who don’t specifically collect records by the Beatles would love to have in their collection…

…all because of the album’s cover, rather than the musical content.

The original Yesterday and Today album cover, released in June 1966 only in the United States, was printed with a cover depicting the Beatles dressed in butcher smocks, surrounded by pieces of raw meat and plastic doll parts. Due to the negative reception Capitol Records received from reviewers who received advance copies of the record, the original album cover art was quickly replaced by one with a more modest design.

The value of the copies of Yesterday and Today with a Butcher cover lies with the cover itself; the records within them are relatively common. For those interested in owning a Butcher cover, there is both good news and bad news.

The good news is that Capitol Records produced the better part of a million copies of that album in 1966. The bad news is that many of those covers were either destroyed or altered, and surviving examples in excellent condition can often sell for a breathtaking amount of money on the collector’s market.

In this article, we’re going to discuss the infamous Butcher cover in detail, outlining the history of the album and cover, the various versions of the album that exist, how to identify one, and the value of the Butcher cover in the collector’s market.

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Yesterday and Today Album History
Song Listings
The Original Cover Design – The Butcher Cover
Butcher Covers Are Shipped And Withdrawn
Replacement Cover Design
Album Release And Reception
Collectors and Butcher Covers
Butcher Cover Terminology
First State Butcher Covers
Second State Butcher Covers
Third State Butcher Covers
The Yesterday and Today Trunk Covers
Identifying A Butcher Cover
Is It a First State or a Good Peel?
Should You Peel a Butcher Cover?
Butcher Cover Values
The “Livingston” Butcher Covers
Canadian Butcher Covers
Counterfeit Butcher Covers
Conclusion

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Yesterday and Today Album History

From January, 1964, when Capitol Records released Meet the Beatles in America, through the August, 1966, release of Revolver, the Beatles’ American albums differed in content, and sometimes in cover art and title, from their British counterparts. This was mostly due to different industry practices within those two countries.

In Britain, albums usually contained fourteen songs, and ordinarily did not contain songs that had been previously released as singles. The reasoning for this was the perception among record companies that the public might not be interested in buying expensive albums that contained songs that they had previously purchased as singles.

In America, albums usually contained twelve songs, and it was quite common for albums to contain songs that had previously been released as singles.

In Britain, the Beatles and their record company, Parlophone, carefully planned out their releases, choosing songs that were intended to be released as singles while assigning others to albums. In the United States, Capitol Records, encouraged by the tidal wave of Beatlemania, was interested in releasing as many Beatles albums as possible, with twelve tracks, of course, rather than the fourteen used in Britain.

Fewer tracks meant greater profits and fewer royalties to pay, as the price of the album would be the same, regardless of how many songs were on it.

These independent decisions led to significant differences in the Beatles’ catalog in the two countries, with far more albums being released in the United States than in Britain. By putting singles and their B-sides on albums and by cutting the number of tracks from fourteen to twelve, Capitol occasionally found themselves with enough tracks left over from various projects to release a unique album to be released only in the United States and Canada. One of these albums was Yesterday and Today, which Capitol scheduled for release on June 20, 1966.

Yesterday and Today was an album planned by the American record company alone and was compiled with little, if any, input from the Beatles themselves. The tracks were taken from a variety of sources:

• “Act Naturally” and “Yesterday” were originally on the UK version of the 1965 LP Help!, but had been omitted from the U.S. Version.
• “Drive My Car”, “If I Needed Someone”, “Nowhere Man” and “What Goes On” were taken from the UK version of the 1965 LP Rubber Soul and had been left off of the American version of the album.
• “Day Tripper” and “We Can Work It Out” had been released as a single in both the U.S. and in the UK, where those two songs had not been intended to appear on an album.
• “And Your Bird Can Sing”, “Doctor Robert”, and “I’m Only Sleeping” were tracks intended for the then-unreleased Revolver album, which wouldn’t be released until August, 1966.

The completed track lineup is listed below. The album was given the title “Yesterday and Today” to take advantage of the song “Yesterday”, which had reached #1 on the American charts in October, 1965.

The Beatles were reportedly unhappy with the way that Capitol records reconfigured their intended album releases, but were unable to do anything about it. This was eventually resolved when the group signed a new contract in 1967, and all releases from that time forward were identical in both the U.S. and the UK, as per the Beatles’ wishes.

As for Yesterday and Today, the Beatles likely knew as little as the American public about the content of the album prior to its release.

Song Listings

Side One

“Drive My Car” – 2:25
“I’m Only Sleeping” – 2:58
“Nowhere Man” – 2:40
“Doctor Robert” – 2:14
“Yesterday” – 2:04
“Act Naturally” – 2:27

Side Two

“And Your Bird Can Sing” – 2:02
“If I Needed Someone” – 2:19
“We Can Work It Out” – 2:10
“What Goes On” – 2:44
“Day Tripper” – 2:47

With the track listings for Yesterday and Today all set, the only thing left for Capitol to do was come up with a cover design for the album.

The Original Cover Design – The Butcher Cover

As Yesterday and Today was intended to be a North American-only release (it would also be released in Canada, though not with the infamous cover), Capitol had not received artwork from Parlophone, and requested that the band’s management provided them with suitable artwork for the album cover.

The photos supplied came from a photo shoot that the band had done in March, 1966 with photographer Robert Whitaker, which were originally intended to be used for a piece of conceptual art called “A Somnambulant Adventure.” For these photos, the Beatles were dressed in butcher smocks and sat on or stood around a bench while surrounded with parts from plastic dolls and raw meat.

Though these photos were not taken with the intention of using them for an album cover, the band’s management submitted them to Capitol, and one of the photos was chosen to be used for the cover of the Yesterday and Today album. Whitaker had no idea that he’d inadvertently created the Butcher cover.

Butcher Covers Are Shipped And Withdrawn

As Beatles albums had continued to sell well since their arrival in America in early 1964, Capitol had high hopes for sales of Yesterday and Today. In anticipation of this, the company printed some 750,000 covers at their three pressing plants – Los Angeles, California, Scranton, Pennsylvania, and Jacksonville, Illinois.

The front cover slicks for the cover were printed on a special paper with a slightly rough texture, and the photo used was given a slightly grainy appearance in order to make the finished cover look somewhat as though it had been painted on canvas.

At the time of the release of Yesterday and Today, record companies in America were still pressing records in both stereo and mono, as stereo records were playable only on stereo equipment and most buyers only had mono record players. Because of this, approximately 80%-90% of the finished covers were in mono, with the remainder in stereo.

Several hundred copies of the finished Yesterday and Today album were shipped to radio stations and reviewers in order to help the album receive press attention prior to release. Most of the remaining copies were shipped to distributors around the country.

Due to the controversial image depicted on the cover, reaction to the album from the few people who received advance copies was predictably hostile, and distributors and retailers expressed concern about the cover art. As the album’s release date approached, Sir Joseph Lockwood, the chairman of EMI, the company that owned Capitol Records, made the decision to recall the album.

Distributors and reviewers were asked to return all copies of the album to Capitol Records, as described in an article in a contemporaneous article in Billboard magazine about the struggles of distributors to return the albums with the Butcher cover to the record company.

It’s worth noting that while the copies of the Butcher cover that were sent to reviewers ahead of the release date are valuable, so is the letter from Capitol requesting that the album be returned to them. While photocopies of the “Butcher cover recall letter” are common, originals are not, and collectors have paid several thousand dollars for original copies of the recall letter.

Replacement Cover Design

Capitol quickly came up with a replacement cover design; this one was much more innocuous and depicted the band surrounding a steamer trunk. This image may have been considered for use as the original cover of the album, and several different prototype cover slicks exist with slight variations on this image.

The decision then needed to be made as to what to do about the returned albums, that had the design that would soon be known as the “Butcher cover.” The decision regarding what to do about the covers may have been made at the corporate level or by individual plant managers.

At the Jacksonville, Illinois, plant, all of the returned copies had the records removed and the covers were reportedly taken to a landfill, where they were dumped into a hole that was then filled with water.

At the Los Angeles and Scranton plants, a different decision was reached – the cover slicks with the new artwork would be pasted over the existing “Butcher cover” slicks.

This process proved to be less expensive than reprinting the covers completely, but was also more time consuming. Not only was the process of precisely aligning a new slick over the old one a difficult task, but the finished covers also had to be trimmed at the mouth (the right edge) to account for any misalignment at the opening of the cover.

Once the covers were either reprinted (Jacksonville) or modified (Los Angeles and Scranton), the albums were again shipped to distributors for their June 20, 1966 release date.

It has been estimated that the cost (in 1966 dollars) of Capitol’s recall of Yesterday and Today cost the company some $250,000, and effectively wiped out any profits the company was likely to see from the album in the foreseeable future.

It’s worth noting that the Butcher cover was released in the United States only in the vinyl format. Reel to reel tape and 8 track tape versions of the album were not issued until about a month after the record. By this time, the decision to use the second cover had already been made and copies of the album in those formats were issued with the replacement cover art.

Cassette copies of Yesterday and Today were not released until two years later and all of them were issued with the later trunk cover photo.

Album Release And Reception

Despite the problems with the cover, the album was released as scheduled, and promptly went to #1 on the American Billboard album charts, where it remained for five weeks. The album was soon certified gold for amassing more than $1 million in gross sales.

On the day of release, the album that most buyers saw in the stores was the second cover with the steamer trunk photo. Probably half of those actually had Butcher cover slicks underneath them. A small handful of original copies with the exposed Butcher cover slick were sold at retail, though it has been estimated that only a few hundred copies were sold this way.

There have been a couple of copies offered for sale on the market over the years that still had both the original shrink wrap and price sticker intact, making it clear that even though the album was withdrawn prior to release, a few copies of the withdrawn original cover did reach store shelves.

Collectors and Butcher Covers

The fact that the original covers for Yesterday and Today were withdrawn and replaced wasn’t a secret, and the public soon discovered that many of them had purchased albums that had a cover with a second cover underneath.

Not only that, but it was fairly easy to see the old cover under the new one on most copies, as the new cover was mostly white and the cover underneath was quite a bit darker.

In addition, due to the haste with which the new slicks were applied to the old covers, many covers had trunk slicks that were slightly misaligned, making it even more obvious that there was another cover underneath the trunk cover.

A few enterprising individuals discovered that steam from a tea kettle could be carefully applied to the cover, which allowed the trunk slick to be removed and the Butcher cover underneath to be exposed.

With time, the glue used to attach the trunk cover slicks became pretty secure, and attempts to peel the covers using steam became less successful, resulting in thousands of badly damaged and largely useless Butcher covers.

Within a few months, all of the “pasteover” copies of Yesterday and Today had been sold, and by the end of 1966, all of the copies seen in stores were copies that had been manufactured with the trunk cover only.

Butcher Cover Terminology

By January, 1967, four distinctly different versions of Yesterday and Today were in existence. These were the original issues with the “Butcher cover” photo, the second version of the album, with the trunk cover slick pasted over the Butcher cover, the buyer-created “peeled” versions with the trunk cover removed, and the fourth version, which was manufactured with the trunk cover slick.

While all versions of the album are currently sought out by collectors, the first issues are unquestionably the most prized and the most valuable. The second issue is also quite valuable, and the third issue may or may not be, depending on condition. The fourth version is of interest only to hard-core Beatles collectors and people who simply like the Yesterday and Today album, which, the opinion of the Beatles themselves notwithstanding, is a pretty good collection of songs.

First State Butcher Covers

The original issues of Yesterday and Today, which never had the trunk slick pasted over them, are among the most valuable and sought out albums in all of record collecting.

While 750,000 of them were printed, most were either destroyed or had trunk cover slicks pasted over them. In the end, only a few hundred examples of these first issues survive today.

Among collectors, this version of Yesterday and Today is known as a “First State” issue. These First State issues exist in both stereo and mono, as do all later versions of the Yesterday and Today album pressed through early 1968. After that, the album was available in stereo only (with the trunk cover, of course.)

First State stereo issues of the Butcher cover are much rarer than their mono counterparts, and outnumber them by a ratio of roughly 10:1.

Second State Butcher Covers

The copies of Yesterday and Today that were shipped to stores with trunk cover slick pasted over the Butcher cover slick (and still have them attached) are known as Second State Butcher covers.

Second State issues are much more common than First State issues, as several hundred thousand copies were probably shipped to distributors and retailers in 1966.

While Second State Butcher covers were common in 1966, they’re significantly harder to find a half a century later. Over time, many of these albums have ended up in the trash, as albums often do, and quite a few of them were likely owned and eventually discarded by people who had no idea that they owned a version of the Butcher cover.

Even among surviving examples of Butcher covers, Second State Butcher covers have become more rare over time, as many people have peeled them to reveal the original Butcher cover underneath, often with varying degrees of success.

Because of peeling and general attrition, Second State Butcher covers are somewhat scarce today. As with First State issues, Second State Butcher covers are significantly more common in mono than they are in stereo.

Third State Butcher Covers

The term “Third State Butcher cover” refers to a Second State cover that has had the trunk cover removed. Third State copies of Yesterday and Today tend to come in the most broad range of conditions of all the variations of the album.

Third State versions that have been professionally peeled often appear, at first glance, to be First State issues. On the other hand, Third State copies that have been badly peeled by amateurs are frequently in horrible condition, and we’ve seen examples where parts of both slicks were removed, leaving bare cardboard in places that were originally covered by the Butcher cover slick.

On the plus side, poorly-peeled Third State examples of the Butcher cover are often the most affordable variation for collectors, as poorly-peeled examples might sell for less than 10% of the price of a professionally peeled Third State cover.

The Yesterday and Today Trunk Covers

The final version, which is not referred to as a “Fourth State” version of Yesterday and Today, is simply known as the “Trunk Cover.” These are the versions of the album that were printed after all of the Second State copies had been shipped. Trunk cover versions of Yesterday and Today have only one slick attached to the front cover and never had the original Butcher cover slick mounted underneath.

The photos used for the trunk cover were from a photo shoot that was taken shortly after the shoot that produced the original Butcher cover photos. Capitol printed test slicks of several variations of the trunk cover before settling on one that had an all white background. The version with the purple surrounding the trunk was used on the 8 track version of the album, however.

This cover was used on all copies of Yesterday and Today from June, 1966 until the late 1980s, when the album was deleted by Capitol as part of the company’s move to unify the American and British Beatles catalog.

Identifying A Second State Butcher Cover

It would seem pretty straightforward to identify a Butcher cover; after all, it has that photo on the front, right? That’s true of First State issues, which are easily identifiable as Butcher covers. It’s also true of Third State versions, as the trunk cover has been peeled to reveal the Butcher cover slick underneath.

On the other hand, it can be difficult to distinguish a Second State Butcher cover from a later trunk cover issue, and we’ve seen numerous trunk cover copies offered for sale over the years by uncertain sellers who listed it for sale with the phrase “may be a Butcher cover.”

Once you know how to tell the difference, it becomes quite easy to see if you have a Butcher cover in your hands.

Parts of the artwork on the original cover were black, while large portions of the trunk cover are white. On Second State issues, there is one part of the cover in particular where the original Butcher cover can be seen through the white part of the trunk cover slick.

In the original Butcher cover photo, Ringo Starr was wearing a black turtleneck sweater underneath his white butcher smock and the part of the turtleneck that appears in that photo is triangular in shape. On Second State issues, the part of the trunk cover slick that is directly above that black triangular area is all white.

On Second State covers, this black triangle is always visible through the trunk cover, and it appears about 2 1/4” (6 cm) below the letters “oda” in the word “Today” in the album’s title. Assuming that you’re in a room with good light or outside in sunlight, the triangular area will be plainly visible. You won’t have to strain or struggle to see it; if you can’t see it, then you’re holding a later trunk cover version of the album.

Many later trunk cover issues of Yesterday and Today have a red emblem in this same location, indicating that the album received a gold record award from the Recording Industry Association of America for achieving more than $1 million in sales. If this emblem appears on the cover, then the album in question is NOT a Second State Butcher cover.

If you do find that you’re holding a Second State Butcher cover, it’s also possible to tell which pressing plant made the album. If you examine the lower right hand corner of the back cover, you will see a small logo for the RIAA. Next to this logo is a number. The number will identify the pressing plant.

2 – A stereo cover that came from the pressing plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
3 – A mono cover that came from the pressing plant in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
4 – (Jacksonville, Illinois) – First State issues only – There are no Second State copies with a 4 on the back cover.
5 – A stereo cover that came from the pressing plant in Los Angeles, California.
6 – A mono cover that came from the pressing plant in Los Angeles, California.

Any copy of Yesterday and Today with a trunk cover and a number 4 on the back is a later issue and not a pasteover Butcher cover.  All but a handful of First State issues from the Jacksonville plant are believed to have been destroyed, meaning that there are no Second State Butcher cover issues from that particular pressing plant.

While not all copies of Yesterday and Today bearing the numbers above will be Butcher covers, all Second State Butcher covers will have a 2, 3, 5, or 6 in the lower right hand corner of the back cover.  If the number is anything else, or if there is no number at all, the album is a later trunk cover pressing and not a Butcher cover.  Keep in mind that the numbers above only indicate the pressing plant that made the record; they do not indicate whether or not the album in question is a Butcher cover.  To determine that you will have to carefully examine the front cover as described above.

Is It a First State or a Good Peel?

While many Second State Butcher covers have been peeled by amateurs using steam or other methods, these results are often unreliable and can result in badly damaged covers. There are, however, a few people who have found nondestructive methods for peeling Second State issues that can result in a finished product that is virtually indistinguishable from a First State issue.

The difference in price in the collector’s market between a First State issue in exceptional condition and a Third State issue in similar condition can be many thousands of dollars. How can one tell the difference?

There are several ways to tell if you’re looking at a true First State Butcher cover or are instead looking at a Third State version where someone has done an exceptional job of removing the trunk cover slick.

Most covers that have had the trunk cover slick removed will have a some glue residue on them. Under bright light or sunlight, this glue residue can be seen in the form of streaks or rings on the cover. These streaks or rings may be faint, but they can usually be seen under strong light.

Another way to check is to get a piece of tissue paper and lightly moisten it (don’t get it too wet!.) Place the damp tissue on the cover and allow it to dry. Once it’s dry, try to remove it. If the tissue sticks or offers resistance when you try to remove it, then the cover in question is a peeled Third State issue. If it removes easily or can be removed by simply blowing on it, then you may, indeed, have a First State issue.

All Second State versions of the Butcher cover were trimmed prior to being shrink wrapped. Because of this trimming, which was done to address alignment issues at the right side, or mouth, of the cover, a Second State Butcher cover will not be quite as wide as a First State cover. First State covers will be about 1/8” wider than Second State covers.

Should you not have a First State cover handy for comparison, and few of us do, you could also compare the cover in question to other Beatles albums of the same period. At the moment, we happen to have a Second State cover on hand, and it measures 12 1/4” wide. A copy of The Beatles Second Album that we have on the shelf measures about 12 3/8” wide in comparison.

As we’ve mentioned the difference in price between a First State issue and a nice Third State issue can be $10,000 or more. Be sure you know what you’re buying before you buy.

Should You Peel A Butcher Cover?

In 1966, it was often possible to turn a Second State Butcher cover into a very presentable Third State version by simply using steam from a tea kettle to remove the trunk slick from the cover. We’ve seen copies where this was done that looked nearly identical to First State issues.

That method still works with copies manufactured at the Scranton, Pennsylvania pressing plant, with a number 2 or 3 on the back cover.

It can be quite difficult to do properly, though a few professionals have demonstrated that they can do it consistently with near-perfect results.  Amateur attempts to use steam to peel a Second State Butcher cover usually result in damaged covers like the one shown on the right.

Short version: Don’t attempt to peel a Butcher cover yourself! Period. Don’t do it.

We’ve seen numerous horrible examples of covers that were ruined by amateurs who were attempting to peel their cover themselves. Consider this – a really nice Third State cover in stereo can sell for as much as several thousand dollars.

A ruined one might sell for $0.

Copies manufactured at the Los Angeles pressing plant cannot be peeled using steam, and attempting to do so will ruin the cover.

There are individuals who have developed methods of removing the top slick using various chemicals. These processes usually work quite well, and the results are often nearly indistinguishable from First State issues. Of course, these people who can peel a Beatles Butcher cover using these methods are professionals, and they charge a fee for the service.

Still, if you own a Second State Butcher cover, it may (or may not; read on) be worthwhile to consider having it professionally peeled. Obviously, such a decision must lie with the individual, but there are several factors to take into consideration when considering whether or not to peel a Second State issue.

All versions of the Butcher cover are collectible, and collectors are interested in owning all three versions in the best possible condition. All three are relatively uncommon, and the First State versions are quite rare.

Second State versions, however, are becoming increasingly rare, as many thousands of them have been peeled over the years. As these records were sold when new as Second State issues, they have value to collectors “as-is”, that is, in their original unpeeled state.

If your Second State version is in pristine condition, be it still sealed or perhaps still in the original shrink wrap, or even in mint condition, you should probably leave it alone. It’s worth the most it’s ever going to be worth in its current condition.

Keep in mind that Second State Butcher covers are collectible in their own right, as that’s the way the album was sold when it was first released to the public. Every time someone peels one, there’s one less Second State Butcher cover left in the world. As time goes on, they’re becoming increasingly rare.

On the other hand, if there are any problems at all with the front cover, it may well be beneficial to have it professionally peeled. Such problems might include either excessive front cover wear or perhaps writing on the cover. Another example would be excessive foxing, which is an age-related deterioration of the paper that causes brownish spots or blotches to appear on the cover. Foxing is most commonly seen on white paper, so it shows up often on Second State Butcher covers that have been improperly stored.

Again, the decision is up to you. Collectors are paying surprisingly high prices for Second State issues in better than average condition these days. If your Second State Butcher cover is in exceptional condition, you won’t increase its value in any way by having it peeled.

If it has problems, however, you can turn a so-so Second State issue into a very nice and more valuable Third State issue by having it professionally peeled.

If in doubt, you might want to consult with someone who peels them professionally. They can make a recommendation, and the pros will tell you if you have an example that would be best left alone.

Whatever you do, don’t try to peel a Beatles Butcher cover yourself!

Butcher Cover Values

With most records, establishing value is usually pretty easy. There is usually one version of a record that’s collectible, and there’s a “going rate” for mint copies, with copies in lesser condition selling for less, with the price determined by the condition.

Establishing values for Butcher covers is a bit more complex, as the price is determined by many factors, instead of just the condition.

Here are the factors that help establish the “value” of a Butcher cover:

State – Is it a First State, Second State, or Third State issue? Each version has their own price ranges.

Format – Is the album a mono version or a stereo version? Mono copies are substantially more common than stereo copies, so stereo copies will sell for higher prices. On the other hand, the values don’t correspond to their rarity. There may be ten times as many mono copies as stereo copies, but stereo copies usually only sell for about twice as much money.

Condition – As with any collectible, condition is of the utmost importance in determining the value of a Butcher cover. The better the condition, the higher the price.

Copies that are still sealed in their original factory shrinkwrap and have never been opened have sold for astonishing amounts of money. A sealed stereo First State Butcher cover sold for $75,000 in 2015. Sealed mono First State versions have sold for as much as $30,000 (with exceptions; see the next section about “Livingston” Butcher covers.)

Values for unsealed, opened copies of First State issues have sold for anywhere from $5000-$25,000, depending on whether they are mono or stereo.

Collectors are also interested in still sealed Second State issues. While Second State versions are more common than First State issues, sealed copies are quite rare, as most people who bought the album in 1966 opened them and played them.

Sealed mono Second State versions have sold for $5000-$7000 and stereo copies have sold of upwards of $10,000.

Pricing for Second State issues can vary widely, though nice mono examples often sell for $500-$4000 and stereo copies from $1000-$5000.

The widest price ranges come with Third State issues, as the condition for copies seen on the market is all over the map. We’ve seen badly peeled Third State copies sell for as little as $50, and the condition was so poor that we thought even that price was generous.

Then again, truly pristine, professionally peeled stereo Third State issues have sold for as much as $6000, and we recently saw a nicely peeled mono Butcher cover sell for nearly $4000. It all depends on condition.

One nice thing about Butcher covers is that the demand is always there, regardless of condition. This is the one record that everyone seems to know about, even if they’re not Beatles collectors or even record collectors. Most record collectors, regardless of their interest in the Beatles, would like to have a copy of the infamous Beatles Butcher cover in their collection, and for those types of collectors, condition often doesn’t matter.

We’ve found that badly peeled Third State versions are often the easiest ones to sell, simply because they’re the most affordable for buyers. Few people have $25,000 at hand for a First State Butcher cover, but nearly everyone can find $100 or so for a badly peeled Third State version. Once you own one of those, you can rightly claim that you own perhaps the most famous record in all of record collecting.

It’s worth noting that the prices listed above are the highest examples of prices paid for pristine copies of Butcher covers in various configurations. Most copies offered for sale sell for less, though prices can vary widely according to condition, state, format, and the fluid nature of the collecting market.

The “Livingston” Butcher Covers

While a First State Butcher cover is generally regarded as the most desirable variation of the Yesterday and Today album, many collectors believe that the ultimate example to own would be to have a copy of a so-called “Livingston” Butcher cover.

Alan Livingston was the president of Capitol Records in the 1960s, and he signed the Beatles to Capitol Records. He was also president of the label at the time of the release of Yesterday and Today, and he is the man who ordered Capitol employees to discontinue distribution of the original version of the cover.

Withdrawn they were, with most copies replaced with Second State issues with new cover slicks pasted over the original. Before the covers were altered, Livingston put twenty four sealed copies of the First State Butcher cover in a box and took them home. Nineteen of those copies were mono, and five were stereo.

Twenty years later, in 1986, Alan Livingston’s son Peter appeared at a Beatles convention in Los Angeles with four sealed First State copies from his father’s box – two in mono and two in stereo. He sold three of the four records that day, and eventually sold all of them.

Peter Livingston also arranged to have his father sign a notarized letter stating that he was the president of Capitol Records in the 1960s and that the accompanying record came from his personal collection.

A so-called “Livingston” Butcher cover is now among the most highly sought out records in all of Beatles collecting. With so few of them available and the impeccable provenance that comes with the letter, the prices paid for Livingston Butcher covers have steadily increased since Peter Livingston sold them for $1000 (for the mono) and $2500 (for a stereo copy) in 1986.

It has been nearly a decade since either a mono or a stereo Livingston Butcher cover has appeared for sale, but the last mono copy sold for $44,000 and the last stereo copy sold for $85,000. We personally know a collector who has offered $125,000 to one of the five owners of a stereo copy, and his offer was politely declined.

In time, it’s possible that a stereo Livingston Butcher cover may sell for $250,000, though at least one of those owners has vowed never to sell. You can read more about the Livingston Butcher cover here.

Canadian Butcher Cover

Since the original release of Yesterday and Today in 1966, the album has been released in only two other countries – Canada and Japan. The Canadian release was contemporaneous with the American version and was intended to be issued with the same cover depicting the infamous Butcher photo.

Unlike the American copies, which were already in transit to distributors and retailers at the time of the recall, the Canadian pressings were still in the production stage. Because of this, no Canadian versions of the Butcher cover were ever shipped to distributors or stores.

Paul White, former vice president of Capitol Records of Canada, had received two completed mono covers and a Butcher cover slick (not a completed cover) for the stereo version from the printer that was producing the cover. He gave one of the mono copies to an associate and he kept the other one, along with the stereo slick.

To date, no other examples of a Canadian mono Butcher cover has surfaced, and no completed stereo covers are known to exist. All copies shipped to stores from the day of release used the trunk cover photo, there are are no Canadian Second State copies in existence.

The Japanese version of Yesterday and Today was not released until 1970. All copies ever printed in that country used the artwork with the trunk cover.

Counterfeit Butcher Covers

Sooner or later, it always happens. When a manufactured commodity becomes rare and demand increases, someone tries to fill that demand. In the case of rare records, that always comes in the form of duplication, or counterfeiting.

Like many rare Beatles records, such as Introducing the Beatles, the First State Butcher cover has been counterfeited on several occasions. Most of these copies can be easily detected by anyone with even passing familiarity with original 1960s Capitol Records Beatles albums.

The cover construction is usually different, and the printed covers usually have a slick, rather than a slightly rough, texture to them. The vinyl used on the records is usually thinner than those used on the originals, and many of the counterfeits are accompanied by colored vinyl records. All original examples of the Butcher cover were shipped with black vinyl records.

While most counterfeit Butcher covers are copies of the First State issue, there are also counterfeit trunk covers that appear to be pasteover (Second State) issues, complete with a faint outline of Ringo’s collar in the white area next to the trunk, as you would see on a true pasteover.

The copies we’ve see like this have flimsy cover construction, poor print quality, and incorrect height measurements, as they’re about 3/16″ shorter than an authentic copy.

The most recent counterfeit Second State issue that we’ve seen appeared to be a stereo issue, and said so on the front and back cover, but had a number “6” in the lower right hand corner, which is ordinarily found on mono issues from the Los Angeles pressing plant.  A genuine stereo pressing from Los Angeles should have had a “5” on the back cover, rather than a “6.”

The number “6” on the cover was printed in a smaller font than that used on genuine copies of the album.

The going price for current counterfeit pressings is about $40, and many collectors find that to be an acceptable price. Be aware, however, that these pressings are unlikely to increase in value in the future, as they’re only imitations and not the real thing.

Butcher Cover Conclusion

Without a doubt, the Beatles Butcher cover is the most famous and infamous record in all of record collecting. They are rare, they are interesting, and they just happened to be a product of the most famous rock and roll group in the history of the medium.

All of those things combine to make the Butcher cover one of the most fascinating albums in the record collecting hobby, and it’s likely that mint condition copies of all three “states” of the album will continue to rise in value in the future.

It’s also amazing to look at the original cover photo some fifty years after the original release. To this day, the response from many remains unchanged from that of the public in 1966:

What were they thinking?

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White Label Promo Records

 

One often sees the term, white label promo in reference to certain types of records, but what does that mean? In short, it refers to a special pressing of a record that was manufactured specifically for radio station or other promotional (non-retail) use.

Early in the days of radio, disk jockeys would play whatever they felt like playing, without any input from the record companies. The relationship between radio and the music industry was a tense one, as record company executives felt that consumers would be reluctant to buy records they could hear on the radio for free.

By the 1950s, a few record companies changed their way of thinking, and decided that they might be able to have some degree of control over the songs played on the radio if they gave records to the radio stations free of charge.

They also realized that consumers would not buy records with which they were completely unfamiliar, and that hearing them played on the radio provided that familiarity which might encourage them to buy the record at a record store.

Rather than leave the choice of music played on the radio to random choices made by station personnel, the record companies began sending records to radio stations to encourage them to play them. This, in turn, could bring them to the attention of the public, who, in turn, would buy them in the stores.

Not wanting to confuse the free records provided to radio stations with the copies they were pressing for commercial sale, the record companies would usually mark the covers and the labels of these free records in some way so that it was obvious that these records were not to be sold, but were for radio and/or promotion use only.

This made it easier for record company accountants to keep track of which records were being sold for profit and which ones needed to be treated by the company as an advertising expense.

Record companies devised a number of methods to distinguish commercial, or “stock” copies of records from those intended for promotional use.

In some cases, promotional copies of records were simply stock copies that had the words “Demonstration – Not for Sale” applied to the cover or label using a rubber stamp. In some cases, a sticker with similar wording was affixed to a stock album cover, indicating that the record was intended for promotional use, while the label might have been identical to that of a stock copy.

Later, many record companies simply added wording such as, “promotional copy – not for sale” to their regular label artwork.

Eventually, most record companies chose to create a special version of their record label to be used exclusively for promotional copies. In order to make it easy to distinguish between stock and promotional copies, most record companies eventually chose to create a special “white” label for promotional records. The vast majority of record companies eventually adopted this informal standard, and the white label promo, as we refer to it today, was born.

Not all companies adopted the white label promo as a standard for promotional copies.  Some labels used different colored labels for promotional copies.  Decca, for example, used pink labels for promotional copies in the 1950s before adopting the white label for such use in the 1960s.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Capitol Records eschewed the white label promo altogether and used stock copies of their albums with the word “Free” or the word “Promo” punched through the album cover. Sometimes, they simply used a stock cover with a large hole punched in a corner, rather than press a special white label promo version of the album.

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What’s so Special About a White Label Promo?

There are a few things that make white label promo records something of interest to collectors. First of all, they are, by definition, different from stock, or commercially released, pressings in that they have a completely different label.

Since collectors like things that are different, that alone makes them something to add to their collection.
Second, the white label promo pressings are usually pressed before the commercial copies, in order to get them to the radio stations prior to the commercial release date. That means that the white label promo pressings are among the first records pressed from the stampers for a particular release, which generally means they may sound better than their stock counterparts.

Stampers wear out over time due to friction, and the last record pressed from a particular stamper generally will not sound as good as the first one pressed.

White label promo copies are desirable to collectors and audiophiles simply because they often sound better.

Another oddity about white label promo pressings is that they may be different in some way from their stock counterparts. When monaural records were phased out in the U.S. in 1968, some record companies continued to send out mono white label promo pressings to AM radio stations that only broadcast music in mono, while sending stereo white label promotional copies to FM stations, which broadcast in stereo.

This continued into the early 1970s, but by then, most music stations had moved to the FM band. Because of this, these white label promo mono pressings were often pressed in minuscule numbers compared to the stereo versions.

In some cases, several hundred (or even several thousand) stereo white label promo copies of a particular album might be pressed, while a mono white label promo might have been limited to as few as 50 copies.

These mono white label promo records, by definition, sounded dramatically different from the stock pressings, which were stereo only. Promo-only mono issues of some albums, such as those by Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers Band, or King Crimson, have been known to sell for thousands of dollars at auction.

Sometimes, a white label promo copy of a particular album can be different in other ways from stock copies. The 1967 LP by the Who, The Who Sell Out, consisted of songs with fake commercials in between them.

Some white label promo copies of this album were identical in content to the stock copies. A few white label promo copies were different, and were mastered with all of the commercials together.

This was likely intended to make it easier for disk jockeys to play the songs themselves, rather than the commercials. The version of the album with all of the commercials on one side is quite rare.

White Label Promo Values

In general, a white label promo pressing of any given record will sell, at a minimum, for 50% more than a standard stock pressing. This can increase dramatically for white label promo copies that are different in some way – different song listings, different running order, or a different mix.

One of the problems with collecting white label promo copies of records is finding copies that are in acceptable condition. Many of these records were played on the radio, often by disk jockeys who didn’t pay much attention to taking care of the records.

Many white label promo records by rock bands of the 1960s, such as Cream, the Yardbirds, or the Who, are typically found in terrible condition today. Finding a pristine copy of one of these rare promotional records can be quite difficult, but also quite rewarding once you finally add one to your collection.

You can browse our white label promo and other promotional records here.

 

Vinyl Records – The Appeal of Record Collecting

Despite the predictions of many just a few short years ago, vinyl records are still selling well in the twenty-first century. This would have surprised a lot of people in the late 1980s, when vinyl records were in serious decline as a working format, partly due to the introduction of the compact disc earlier in the decade.

Like many things in popular culture, vinyl records have gone out of style only to become popular again.

It’s pretty obvious that records are back in a big way, as many stores that only sold compact discs a few years ago have replaced almost all of them with vinyl records. Not only that, but the selling prices of collectible records have not only remained steady, but have actually increased at a time when most people get their music via digital downloads.

Why are vinyl records making a comeback? What is the source of their appeal? Why are record collectors so passionate, and what, exactly, do they collect? In this article, we’ll cover the history of the phonograph record, including its decline and resurgence and explain the many reasons why people are once again lining up to buy vinyl records.

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33 1/3 Long-play Vinyl Records
Popularity of Vinyl Records in the 1950s
Stereo Vinyl Records
Decline of Vinyl Records
Vinyl Records Resurgence
Collecting Vinyl Records
Types of Vinyl Records That People Collect
Artists
Audiophile Records
Bootleg Records
Colored Vinyl Records
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33 1/3 Long Play (Lp) Vinyl Records

In order to avoid writing a novel, we’ll skip the early history of vinyl records, as the early ones were made from wax, celluloid, and shellac. The modern “vinyl” record as we know it dates to the late 1940s. Record companies were looking for a format to replace the 78 RPM record, which had the limitations of fragility and a short playing time.

A collection of similarly-themed 78 RPM records, known as an “album”, was bulky, heavy, and expensive to produce, and the record companies were looking for more viable, cost-effective alternatives.

RCA opted to go with the seven inch, 45 RPM record, which had one song on each side, and they developed a special player that would allow listeners to cue up a stack of them to be played in series. These “albums” were sold in small boxes that were quite a bit smaller than their 78 counterparts and were cheaper to make and ship and were far less prone to breakage. Consumers were still expected to handle a stack of records in order to listen to a collection of songs from the same artist, which was a bit of a nuisance.

Columbia Records went with an alternative format, which they trademarked as the Lp®, for “long-play.” This format, which we’ll refer to from now on as the LP, played at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute, using a ten inch (and later, twelve inch) disc. The LP format offered much longer playing time; they typically played for about 12-15 minutes for a ten inch disc and up to 25 minutes for the twelve inch size.

The records were made from various materials early on, but the industry eventually settled on polyvinyl chloride, which came to be referred to as “vinyl.” With that, vinyl records as we know them were born and the first long-play albums were released in 1948.

Each company was committed exclusively to their own format, but Columbia’s LP format won the format war fairly quickly, and both Columbia and RCA soon licensed their technology out to other interested parties. The 45 RPM record did eventually replace the 78 RPM disc, and by the late 1950s, production of 78 RPM singles ended.

It took a few years for the industry to move from the ten inch disc to the twelve inch format that remains popular today. Part of this had to do with the manufacturing process, which was largely geared towards pressing ten inch 78 RPM discs. It was only logical to continue to make LPs in that size, but by 1954, nearly all U.S. record companies had phased out their production of ten inch LPs.

Popularity of Vinyl Records in the 1950s

Throughout the 1950s and into the mid-1960s, record albums were somewhat of a niche item, with most music being sold in the form of singles.

Part of the reason for this was the price; new albums in the mid-1950s sold for about $4, which equates to about $35 today. By 1960, some stereo records were being sold for as much as $6.98, which works out to about $56 in present-day dollars.

There’s a reason why so many albums from the 1950s are hard to find today – they sold in minuscule quantities, due to their price. If you were a lucky teenager in the 1950s, you might have received an album as a birthday or Christmas gift, but if you wanted to actually buy music, you likely bought singles.

Record companies knew this, which is why a lot of rock and roll artists of the 1950s didn’t release any albums at all. Most of the albums sold in that decade were of the jazz or easy listening variety. The emergence of Elvis Presley in 1954 would soon change that, and by the time the Beatles arrived in a big way in early 1964, albums began to be big sellers.

Stereo Vinyl Records

Record companies had long been trying to find a way to commercially sell recordings in stereo. In 1956, commercial reel to reel tapes came to market, and introduced stereo to the consumer marketplace. The tapes and the equipment to play them were quite expensive, and the pre-recorded reel to reel tapes had to be duplicated one at a time, which made mass production tedious. The major record companies began to aggressively pursue technologies to allow them to manufacture vinyl records in stereo, as they could be more easily mass-produced.

The first stereo records came to market in late 1957, though for the next ten years, monaural (or “mono”) records continued to dominate the market. Stereo records were sold for a dollar more than their mono counterparts, making them more suitable to well-heeled buyers of jazz and classical recordings.

Most of the stereo albums released in the 1950s were in those niches, and popular and rock and roll titles in stereo from that decade are rather scarce today and usually sell for a significantly higher price than their mono counterparts.

An added expense for stereo record buyers was the fact that they also had to buy a new record player that was equipped to play the stereo vinyl records as well as a second (or replacement) amplifier and an additional speaker. This was beyond the financial reach of a lot of buyers, who continued to buy records in mono, and that is one of the many reasons why so many early stereo records are quite rare today.

Throughout the 1950s and into the mid-1960s, record companies were quite conscious of the quality of their products, taking great care in every step of the process from recording the music to pressing the discs to printing the covers. Most of the major labels produced a product made from high-quality vinyl that looked great and sounded great, too.

Decline of Vinyl Records

Over time, the retail price of vinyl records didn’t really keep up with inflation, making albums more affordable by the early 1970s. By this time, the format of the stereo LP had become universal, and nearly every home had a stereo player. International problems involving the petroleum industry in 1973 led to some manufacturing issues, and consumers noticed a significant decline in the quality of the vinyl records on the market.

The quality of the vinyl used in the manufacture of records declined noticeably, with many companies using recycled vinyl that often contained visible impurities. Warped records were common, especially with the short-lived “Dynaflex” vinyl records produced by RCA that weighed little more than half as much as their records of just a few years before.

Changes in technology, as well as strong interest from the public in a higher-quality product, led to the development of the digital compact disc. The CD, as it became known, was both smaller (at 5 inches) and thinner than a record album, and less prone to problems in sound quality as a result of mistreatment by the user. Introduced in 1982, the CD began much as the stereo LP did, with high priced media and playback equipment.

The record companies weren’t sure how much the public would be willing to pay for compact discs, but they know how much they cost to make and how much they’d have to charge retailers who wanted to buy them at wholesale. Rather than set a suggested retail price for the compact disc, they allowed the market to set the price, which quickly settled in the $18 range (about $44 in 2017 dollars.) Given that the suggested list price for a record album at that time was $9.98, the record companies realized they were sitting on a potential goldmine, and quickly went about trying to phase out vinyl records altogether.

They did this by aggressively promoting the compact disc format and taking advantage of the CD’s longer playing time. Albums would be released in both formats, but the CD would often contain one or more extra songs that were not on the LP counterpart.

In addition, the record companies started refusing to accept returns on defective LPs, forcing retailers to absorb the cost. In time, the combination of these two factors caused many retailers to stop stocking vinyl records altogether.

By 1990, vinyl record albums were available almost exclusively through subscription record clubs, and by 1995, the format was declared by the industry to be virtually dead, with total sales worldwide in the range of just a couple of million units. Considering that in the mid-1980s, some titles had sold more than ten million records alone, this was effectively the end of vinyl records, and after more than a century, many people felt the medium’s time had come.

Vinyl Records Resurgence

The record companies enjoyed a lot of success after they succeeded in removing records from the marketplace, but in the late 1990s, the popularity of the digital and easily-downloaded mp3 format, nearly destroyed the industry. People were buying CDs, “ripping” them to their computers and sharing them online with the whole world. Consumers no longer saw a reason to buy music when they could simply download it from the Internet for free. The rise of file sharing sites such as Napster caused industry profits to plummet.

Over time, the record companies realized that people would also pay for digital downloads, and Apple’s iTunes store and streaming Websites such as Spotify proved that it was possible to get people to pay money for downloadable music. In the meantime, something odd happened – the small companies that were licensing titles from the major labels and releasing them on vinyl started to see an increase in sales, as did stores that sold used vinyl records. It seemed that people who bought music missed the ability to buy a piece of music and actually hold their purchase in their hands.

Over the past decade, the major labels have slowly returned to releasing titles in the form of vinyl records, and today, oddly enough, virtually every new release from a major artist is available in LP form, and much to everyone’s surprise, they’re selling.

In fact, sales of vinyl records in 2015 reached totals that hadn’t been seen since the mid-1980s, with some 40 million units sold. Pressing plants worldwide are running at capacity, often running 24 hours a day in order to meet demand.

In addition, audio equipment manufacturers are once again selling mass-produced turntables and people are buying them. Many of the buyers are under the age of 30, and were born at a time when it was nearly impossible to buy new vinyl records at all. Demand is there across the spectrum, and out of print and collectible titles are selling for more than ever. Ringo Starr’s personal copy of the Beatles’ 1968 LP known as the White Album recently sold for $790,000. That’s a lot of money for an artifact of a format that was regarded as dead a few decades ago.

Collecting Vinyl Records

It’s surprising to see how many new fans are coming to record collecting today and that includes relatively young collectors who are seeking out vinyl records that were made before they were born.

People have been collecting records since they were invented. Though most people who collect vinyl records today are interested in the modern-era LP or single, there are still collectors who are interested in early 20th century cylinder records and 78 RPM singles.

Most of the interest in 78s is in the area of rhythm and blues and early rock and roll. The former didn’t sell particularly well when they were new and are thus fairly rare today. The latter were pressed at a time when the industry was phasing out the format. For most singles pressed after 1955, the 78 version is harder to find today than the 45 RPM equivalent.

There are a number of reasons why people collect vinyl records; there’s no “one size fits all” answer. Still, there are a few explanations that seem to apply to the majority of collectors.

Vinyl records are tangible – Obviously, there’s some appeal to buying something and being able to physically handle it. Buyers are more likely to regard their purchase as something of value when it’s a physical object than they are if it’s merely something that they downloaded.

Advantages of physical size – Vinyl records are bigger than compact discs, which makes it easier to read song titles, lyrics, and liner notes than it is on a compact disc. Even people with exceptional eyesight have long complained that reading the small booklets enclosed with compact discs is difficult. The larger size of record albums also allows for better appreciation of cover photos and graphics, which often represent a lot of time, money and effort on the part of the artists who created them.

Bonus items – Vinyl records occasionally included bonus items such as stickers or posters, which are generally too large to fit in a compact disc case. Back in the 1970s, albums often came with posters, and millions of teenagers had the posters from Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon hanging on their wall. With the resurgence of vinyl records, buyers can once again enjoy that experience.

Visual appeal – While vinyl records pressed from black vinyl aren’t particularly interesting, record companies occasionally press records using colored vinyl or even press albums as picture discs, where the record is made from clear vinyl covering a photo or image.

Improved sound – This argument has been going on for decades, but a lot of listeners prefer the sound of vinyl records to that of digital downloads or compact discs. We’ve found that in blind tests, where the listener doesn’t know which source they’re hearing, they usually choose the record over the compact disc as the one that sounds the best to their ears.

Many listeners have felt this way ever since the compact disc, and during the decade or so when records were largely unavailable, a lot of these listeners simply didn’t purchase new music anymore. With the resurgence of vinyl records, they’re buying again. Some of the titles that were issued in the 1990s as CD-only releases are now being issued as vinyl records for the first time ever and they’re selling well.

Improved sound, even for records – With vinyl records selling for a premium price today, record companies are now showing an interest in producing a quality product that they haven’t shown since the early 1960s. Great care is now being taken in transferring the master tape to the lacquers used to make stampers, a process called “mastering.”

When reissuing titles from the 1950s through the 1970s, the record companies are making an effort to use the best-available tape sources, rather than digital copies made for compact disc use. Finally, the companies that press the records are making an effort to use quiet, high-quality vinyl compounds that allow the records to be played with a minimum amount of surface noise. As a result, the vinyl records produced today are among the best every made in the nearly 140 year history of the medium.

Attachment to an artist – While most buyers of vinyl records are interested in hearing the music recorded on them, many collectors are interested in a particular artist. These collectors often seek to obtain a copy of every single or album by their favorite artists, including foreign versions that might have different song lineups, different covers, or some other visible difference from the version sold in their home country.

For collectors of very popular artists, such as Elvis Presley or the Beatles, this type of collecting could potentially result in a collection consisting of thousands of albums if the collector sought out every conceivable variation.

Types of Vinyl Records That People Collect

While most collectors are interested in albums, there’s a lot of interest in singles, too. In the early days of rock and roll, many artists released singles that were never issued on albums. A few artists released singles exclusively, and there are some genres of rock, such as rockabilly and 1960s garage rock, that are represented almost exclusively by 45 RPM singles.

While albums are popular with collectors, some genres are more popular than others. Rock and roll is far and away the most popular, followed by jazz, classical and soul and rhythm and blues. While there is a bit of interest in other areas of music, such as country or movie soundtracks, interest in those areas seems to be on the wane.

Although the most popular titles in jazz and classical music are still available today as current releases, collectors seek out original pressings, as they generally sound better than modern reissues. The reason for that is that many of the original tapes used on albums in the 1950s and 1960s are long lost, and current pressings are made from tapes that are several generations removed from the original tapes, resulting in a loss of sound quality.

Certain classical titles, usually stereo pressings from the late 1950s and early 1960s, regularly sell for hundreds of dollars. A number of jazz titles from the 1950s, particularly those on the legendary Blue Note label, sell for thousands of dollars in mint condition.

The specific types of music that people collect does tend to shift over time as collectors become older and new ones start the hobby. In the 1980s, rare rock and roll records from the 1950s brought premium prices, while many rare titles from the British Invasion era of the 1960s could be purchased at affordable prices. Now, as the collectors of 1950s rock have grown older, the prices for those recordings has dropped, while the prices of many 1960s rock LPs, particularly those of the Beatles, have risen dramatically in price.

While the kinds of vinyl records that interest collectors are often defined by the kind of music they offer, there are certain types of records within those genres of music that attract particular attention in the collector market:

Artists

People collect all kinds of vinyl records, and they collect them for all kinds of reasons. The primary reason, however, is an interest in a particular artist. Most collections start out based on interest in one artist in particular, though many collectors are interested in more than one artist. From there, many collectors seek to obtain a copy of every album or every record by that particular artist.

Each individual collector defines what will comprise their collection. Some might be happy with a copy of every one of the artist’s albums so they can listen to them. That comprises a basic collection.

Others might be interested in owning a copy of every album, plus a copy of every album from every country that released that album, plus a copy of every different variation (mono and stereo, or black vinyl and colored vinyl, for example) of that album known to exist.

Still other collectors might want simply anything related to their chosen artist, whether it’s an album, a single, an 8 track tape, a magazine, a gold record award, or an autographed copy of an album. There’s no single set of rules for what makes up a particular collection, but it almost always stems from an interest in a single artist.

By far, the most commonly collected artists are the Beatles and Elvis Presley. While Elvis isn’t as popular as he once was, rare and unusual Elvis records still sell for thousands of dollars. The Beatles’ popularity seems incapable of waning, and a surprising number of people who weren’t even born when the band broke up collect Beatles records.

Audiophile Records

The early days of stereo in the late 1950s introduced us to “audiophiles”, who were people who were interested in well-recorded sound and who went out of their way to purchase records that produced a realistic, you-are-there listening experience.

In the late 1950s, record companies made an effort to produce vinyl records that emphasized stereo separation in their recordings, and these recordings often in the classical genre, are highly sought out today.

Many jazz and rock records are also well-recorded, but the listening experience of these recordings was often marred by the fact that the records themselves may have been poorly pressed, either due to errors in mastering or in the use of poor quality vinyl in the pressings themselves.

Beginning in the late 1970s, a few small companies sought to correct this problem by licensing the master tapes of highly-regarded titles in the rock, jazz and classical genres and releasing them as high-quality pressings made with improved mastering techniques and better vinyl. These records, produced by such companies as Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs and Quality Record Pressings, are collectively referred to today as “audiophile records.”

Another trend in audiophile records that became popular in the late 1970s was direct-to-disc recordings. These limited edition pressings were recorded live in the studio, direct to the cutting lathe, without the use of recording tape. Bypassing the tape completely resulted in a much better sounding finished product, though direct-disc recordings could not be mass produced since only a limited number of pressings can be manufactured from the finished lacquer disc produced by the cutting lathe.

In addition, few artists are interested in recording live in the studio without overdubs, and the need to record an entire side of an album without stopping makes the entire process rather time consuming. Most direct-disc recordings have been by jazz artists.

Audiophile records are usually intentionally produced in limited quantities, restricted by relatively limited demand in the marketplace and by time-limited contracts with the record companies.

Due to the limited-edition nature of the products and the extra care involved in their manufacture, mass-produced audiophile records tend to sell for a premium price when new, and often for substantially higher prices once they go out of print and are no longer available for general sale.

Bootleg Records

Bootleg records are vinyl records produced without the consent of either the artist or the artist’s record company. While bootleg recordings have existed since the 1930s, the modern industry started in 1969, when a few enterprising individuals discovered that the copyright laws then in effect in the United States did not prohibit anyone from releasing any previously unreleased material by any artist.

This led to the release of thousands of albums over the next five years by hundreds of different artists, usually in the form of previously unreleased studio material or live, “in concert” recordings, with the quality of these records varying dramatically based on the quality of the source tapes used.

Some bootleg records were sourced from tapes made from high-quality FM stereo broadcasts, while others were made from recordings made at live concerts using smuggled tape recorders or copies of copies of copies of studio recordings that had been passed around for years by collectors.

Several manufacturers became well-known for their quality bootleg records, including the Trademark of Quality and Amazing Kornyfone labels, both of which were operated out of California.

When bootleg records first appeared in the late 1960s, many mainstream stores carried them, but Congress quickly changed the copyright laws, which sent the manufacturers “underground.” After that, bootlegs, as they came to be known, were mostly sold via specialty stores or mail order, and by the end of the 1980s, the market for bootlegs as vinyl records effectively came to an end as compact discs took over that market..

Collectors are interested in bootleg records, as they often provide an opportunity to hear recordings that their favorite artists, for whatever reason, have declined to release legally. Many bootleg records were issued on colored vinyl, and all of them, by definition, were limited editions, making them fairly rare once they became unavailable. Certain titles on the Trademark of Quality label have sold for more than $1500, and many routinely sell for $100-$300 today.

Colored Vinyl Records

Most of the vinyl records ever pressed are black in color. While the vinyl compound normally used to manufacture records isn’t naturally black, it can vary in color and all of the variations are relatively unattractive. Pigmentation is added to make the records black, and the reason that most records come in that color is because it’s the cheapest way to make them.

Vinyl records have been occasionally manufactured using colors other than black over the years, and when RCA first introduced the 45 RPM record in the late 1940s, their original intention was to use different colors for records in different genres. Country music records were pressed with green vinyl, and classical records were red. This didn’t last long, and within a year or so, RCA was pressing black records, just like everyone else.

In the early 1960s, Columbia Records, then the nation’s largest record company, began occasionally pressing records on colored vinyl for radio station use. Radio stations often received dozens of records per month with the hopes that they’d play them, and the record company decided that anything that drew attention to their product would be helpful. Columbia and associated labels pressed hundreds of colored vinyl 45 RPM records in the 1960s, representing artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, Bob Dylan, Andy Williams, and Eydie Gorme.

In the late 1970s, a few record companies began pressing copies of some of their best-selling titles on colored vinyl as limited edition releases, which sold for a premium price. Titles by Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Rush, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and dozens of others became available for a short time on vinyl in a wide variety of colors – blue, red, orange, yellow, white, purple, green and even multicolored “splatter” vinyl.

While collectors liked these pressings, they didn’t sell well enough to justify continuing to press them this way on a regular basis, though record companies have continued to occasionally offer colored vinyl records as limited-edition releases. With very few exceptions, colored vinyl records will generally sell for more money than their black vinyl counterparts. They often sound as good or better than black vinyl pressings, due to fewer impurities in the vinyl, which would be visible in a colored vinyl disc.

Many collectors will purchase both a black vinyl and a colored vinyl pressing of the same album and use the black one to play. They’ll just put the colored vinyl copy on the shelf as part of their collection.

Monaural Records

Prior to 1957, all records were monaural, or “mono” as they popularly came to be known. All of the information recorded on the disc was contained in a single channel of information, and the records were intended to be played on a hi-fi system with a single speaker. In 1957, stereo records were introduced, offering two channels of information, and providing a more realistic listening experience.

Stereo records required a special stylus on the phonograph, a stereo amplifier, and two speakers for reproduction. Stereo records could not be played on a turntable or record player that was designed for monaural records without being damaged. Buyers who went shopping for albums at their local record store would have to not only look for the title they wanted, but also for the format, mono or stereo, that their own playback system required. Stereo records cost more than mono records, and retailers hated having to stock multiple variations of the same titles, as it added to inventory costs.

In the late 1950s, mono records outsold stereo records by a ratio of about 50:1. Over the next decade, however, that ratio changed, and by 1967, stereo records were outselling mono records by a similar ratio.

In the early days of stereo, most amplifiers were powered via vacuum tubes, which were relatively expensive. Starting in the early 1960s, these tube amplifiers were slowly replaced in the market by transistorized, “solid-state” equipment, much of which was imported from Japan. As the equipment became more affordable and more widely available, more buyers began to buy stereo records instead of their monaural versions.

Retailers of vinyl records hated the fact that they had to stock most titles in both mono and stereo, and in the early days of stereo records, that format was often available on a special order basis only. By the late 1960s, a switch had taken place and as fewer people were buying mono records, they eventually became special order items themselves.

It took about ten years for the sales of stereo records to overtake the mono versions, but by 1968, the sales of mono albums in the United States had dwindled to the point where the record companies no longer regarded them as commercially viable. The last mono releases by major record labels in the U.S. came in mid-1968, and some titles by major artists released at that time, such as the first three albums by The Doors and the first two by Jimi Hendrix, are highly sought after today in their mono versions.

Every since the decline of mono records in the late 1960s, collectors of artists who were issuing records at that time have sought out the mono pressings of their albums, which became increasingly scarce as the decade went on. Mono albums by the Beatles from 1964, for instance, are fairly common today, but their two releases from 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Magical Mystery Tour, are both quite rare in mono.

In the past five years, a number of mono titles by major artists that were originally released in the late 1960s have been reissued, but collector interest remains strong for original pressings.

Original Pressing Records

While there are exceptions to this rule, original pressings of a particular album often sound better than later issues. This has a lot to do with the tapes used to master the record, as magnetic tape tends to deteriorate over time, both from age and from repeated use. With popular albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the master tapes have often been archived, with current pressings made from copies of those tapes or even copies of copies. In some cases, the original tapes are damaged to the point of no longer being useful and in a surprising number of cases, the master tapes are simply lost.

When the tapes aren’t useful or are no longer available, record companies have to find alternative sources to master their records and the result is usually a record that doesn’t sound as good as the original pressing. Because of this, collectors are often willing to pay a premium for original pressings of classic or highly regarded albums, as they sound better than later pressings.

There are some exceptions to this, particularly if the album was originally release by a record company that wasn’t known for using quality vinyl, but as a rule, original pressings will sell for higher prices than later issues of the same title.

Picture Disc Records

Picture disc records were introduced as somewhat of a novelty in the early 1930s, as an attempt to attract the attention of the buyer by way of changing the appearance of the record itself. A picture disc is a record that appears to have an image or graphic on its very surface.

Picture discs are produced by taking a round graphic or image and laminating it with colored vinyl using a traditional record stamper. While the resulting product may look like a photograph, it will play on a turntable just like other vinyl records, though the sound quality may not be as good as traditional pressings.

Picture discs first appeared on a few 78 RPM records in the 1930s, but weren’t particularly common at that time, probably due to the difficulty in manufacturing them. A company called Vogue Records brought them back in the 1940s, and every record Vogue produced was a 78 RPM picture disc. Financial issues soon forced the company out of business, and picture discs disappeared until the early 1970s.

By the 1970s, production methods had improved, and in 1977, picture disc albums returned, though they were usually issued only as promotional items. As some of these promo-only titles began to change hands among collectors for sizable sums of money, the major record companies began to issue titles commercially, usually as limited edition releases.

Titles issued as promotional releases in the 1970s include Bruce Springsteen’s Darkness on the Edge of Town, and Willie Nelson’s Stardust. Commercial releases from that era include The Beatles’ Abbey Road and the debut album by Boston.

While there were a lot of titles released in the late 1970s in this format, consumers balked at paying prices that were 50% higher than those of regular pressings for records that were relatively noisy and often prone to warping. Since that time, American companies have only occasionally released picture discs, though the format has remained popular in Great Britain all along, particularly for singles.

While most picture discs are round, a few have been issued over the years cut to unusual shapes. The grooves on the records are round, of course, so the records are still playable, but shaped picture discs, while infrequently issued, are usually popular with collectors.

Promotional Records

Promotional records are those created to generate sales of a particular album, usually be being pressed especially for radio use. In the 1950s, a few record companies began to send copies of records to radio stations, usually with special labels that were marked “promotion copy – not for sale.” These vinyl records were marked this way in order to distinguish them from the inventory that was intended to be sold to the public.

After a few years, the industry more or less settled on a standard practice of using white labels to distinguish their promotional issues, and such copies of a particular record are often referred to by collectors as “white label promos.” Promotional copies of any record were usually limited to a few hundred copies, where commercial, or “stock” copies of an album might eventually number in the millions.

Because promotional copies of vinyl records are relatively rare, collectors will often pay a premium for them. As a bonus, promotional copies of any record are usually pressed before the stock copies, so they’ll often sound as good, or better, than the copies sold in the stores. In some cases in the 1980s, promotional copies of albums were actually pressed on high-quality vinyl that was better than that used for for stock copies.

Occasionally, record companies will press special editions of a single or an album for radio use only, with no stock equivalent. These “promo-only” releases are usually sought out by collectors and they have a tendency to sell for prices that reflect their relative scarcity.

Sealed Records

Until the mid-1960s, records sold at retail in the United States were not shrink-wrapped at the factory to protect the vinyl prior to purchase. In fact, in the 1950s, many record stores allowed customers to listen to a record prior to purchase in order to determine if they wanted to buy it.

Problems with theft and damage led to the introduction of protective plastic packaging for albums. Initially, this packaging consisted of a loose-fitting plastic bag that was heat-sealed, but later the industry switched over to tight-fitting shrink wrap.

By shrink wrapping their records, stores were able to assure buyers that the product they were buying was new and untouched by human hands since it left the factory. Of course, most records purchased at stores were immediately opened and played by the buyers as soon as they got home from the store.

Today, many collectors of vinyl records will pay a premium, and sometimes a substantial one, for an example of an out of print title that is still sealed in the original shrink wrap, in order to own an example of an unopened, never-been-played record by their favorite artist. The amount of the premium that one might have to pay in order to acquire a “still sealed” example of any album will vary according to how hard the album is to find in general and how much demand there is for that particular artist.

A still sealed copy of an easy listening album by Ray Conniff from the 1960s, for example, will likely sell for no more today than it did when new. On the other hand, a sealed original 1960s pressing of some titles by the Beatles have been known to sell for thousands of dollars.

As a general rule, a sealed copy of any album will sell for a minimum of twice as much as a used copy in mint condition.

Singles

A lot of collectors are interested in collecting singles, whether they’re the common 45 RPM variety or the less common 78 RPM version. Many music buyers started out buying the songs they heard on the radio as singles before graduating to buying albums.

Part of the reason for that was price; singles are a lot cheaper than albums. Although the market for 45 RPM singles has mostly gone away in the age of compact discs, a lot of collectors are interested in the format.

A surprising amount of recorded music to have been released in the past 60 years was only released as a single. Many of these are obscure releases from small, independent record companies, and these records usually fall in the genre of rockabilly, country, and 1960s-era garage rock, where a band scraped up a bit of money, recorded a single song, and pressed a few hundred copies for friends and relatives. Some of these obscure singles sell for thousands of dollars today.

Another aspect of collecting singles is that many of them were issued with picture sleeves, which usually depicted a photo of the artist along with the song title. Over the years, many of these sleeves have been lost or they might have only been issued with the first few thousand copies of a particular title. Because of this, many picture sleeves from the 1950s and 1960s are quite rare today, with many of them commanding prices in the hundreds, or even thousands, of dollars.

Even picture sleeves by popular artists such as the Beatles or Elvis Presley, while not rare in the absolute sense, can sell for quite a bit of money due to collector demand exceeding supply. While some collectors are interested in singles exclusively, most collect both albums and singles.

Soundtrack Records

While not as popular as they were a few decades ago, soundtrack albums are a niche in which a few collectors of vinyl records specialize. Most of them are interested in the music of specific composers, many of whom did the bulk of their work writing scores for films and stage musicals. Composers such as Bernard Hermann, Alfred Newman and Max Steiner have long been popular with collectors.

The soundtrack albums that tend to attract the most attention are those by well-known composers for films that weren’t popular with the public. This usually led to a relatively short time in print for the soundtrack album, making them hard to find a few years later.

The soundtrack albums for popular films, which were likely to sell well, such as The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady, on the other hand, are quite common as used records and don’t draw much attention on the collector market. On the other hand, soundtracks for obscure foreign films, many in the horror genre, are quite popular.

Perhaps the most valuable soundtrack album ever was the 1954 release of The Caine Mutiny, featuring a score by Max Steiner, which was withdrawn from the market shortly after (or possibly shortly before) its commercial release. Only a handful of copies are known to exist, and copies have changed hands for as much as $6000 in recent sales.

Collecting Vinyl Records Conclusion

As with any other area of collecting, there’s no set of rules regarding what kinds of vinyl records people collect or why any particular individual collects them. The one common factor, of course, is the music, and the love of music is what usually drives people to the hobby in the first place. One of the nice things about record collecting, unlike stamp or coin collecting, for instance, is that vinyl records can actually be played and enjoyed as they were intended to be enjoyed – to reproduce the music itself. Any other enjoyment that one might derive from collecting vinyl records is a bonus.

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Vinyl Records Glossary

If you’re a record collector, and you’re new to the hobby, you may encounter a number of terms in your searches for vinyl with which you’re unfamiliar.

To help, we’ve compiled this vinyl record collecting glossary of terms that you may find it helpful to know:

10” – Ten inch record. This size (25 cm) was used for both 78 RPM singles, made from the 1910s through the late 1950s, as well as long-play albums during the first years of album production (roughly 1948-1955.)

12” – Twelve inch record (30 cm). While this size is most commonly used for modern record albums (post-1955), this size record is also used occasionally for singles and extended-play (EP) recordings.

16 2/3 RPM – A playback speed for certain record albums, most commonly used for talking books for the blind. The slow playback speed allows for extra-long playing time, though the sound quality suffers as a result. Most of the people who own record players that are capable of playing 16 2/3 RPM records have never actually seen one, as they are not common.

180 gram – Weight of some modern era (post-1990) record pressings, usually those titles pressed as “audiophile” records. Most 12″ records pressed in earlier eras weighed between 125-150 grams. The heavier weight of these modern pressings is thought to provide better sound and less likelihood of warping.

200 gram – Weight of some modern (post-1990) record pressings, used by some manufacturers of “audiophile” records. 200 gram records are not seen as often as 180 gram pressings, and there is considerable debate in the audio community regarding the benefits of the additional 10% in weight, including the question of whether the added weight provides any benefits at all.

33 1/3 RPM – The speed used for nearly all long-play (LP) record albums from 1948 to the present day. This speed allows for longer playback time than the earlier 78 RPM pressing, and records at this speed usually offer up to 20 minutes of program material per side (though we’ve seen a few that played as long as 35 minutes, with reduced volume and sound quality.)

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45 RPM – The speed used since 1949 for most 7″ records, and occasionally for 12″ singles. Since the mid-1990s, a few record labels have reissued older recordings that were originally pressed at 33 1/3 RPM at the 45 RPM speed for improved sound quality, though this requires using more discs. A single disc album at 33 1/3 will usually take up two discs when pressed at 45 RPM.

78 RPM – Speed used from the 1910s through the late 1950s for 10″ singles. This format was rendered obsolete circa 1960 by the 45 RPM, 7″ single. Occasionally 78 RPM speeds have been used for certain promotional singles, usually as a marketing gimmick. Records pressed at this speed have had no commercial application for the past half century.

7” – Size of singles (usually one song per side) since 1949. These records normally play at 45 RPM, though a few have been released over the years that played at 33 1/3 RPM.

Acetate – Also known as a lacquer, an acetate is the first step in the record manufacturing process. An acetate is a lacquer-covered metal plate upon which the music is encoded via a lathe. You can read more about acetate records here.

Album – Originally a collection of 78 RPM, 10″ singles, collected in a binder. When the long-play album, containing a number of songs on a single disc, replaced 78 RPM albums in the early 1950s, the name remained.

Today, an “album” usually refers to a collection of songs recorded together and released as a single entity, usually one one disc, but sometimes released as multiple-disc sets.

Long-play albums were originally 10 inches in size, but modern albums are 12 inches in size.

Audiophile Record – Records pressed specifically to attract the attention of buyers who want (and are willing to pay for) albums with higher sound quality than regular mass-produced pressings.

Most audiophile records are pressed on more expensive vinyl that has less surface noise, and are mastered using tapes that are as close as possible to the original master tape. These pressings are usually on heavier (180-200 gram) vinyl and are sometimes cut at 45 RPM, rather than the standard 33 1/3.

Many audiophile records are intentionally released as limited edition pressings and sell for a premium price when new.

You can read more about audiophile records here.

Binaural Record – Short-lived early attempt to press records in stereo. These records required a special tonearm with two cartridges. Due to the awkwardness of the playback process and the expense of buying a special turntable or tonearm, these records were not commercially successful.

You can read more about binaural records here.

Bootleg Record – An album of previously unreleased material, pressed and released to the market without the knowledge or permission of the artist involved or their record company. Most bootleg records consist of previously unreleased studio recordings or live performances by popular artists.

You can read more about bootleg records here.

Bossa Nova – A form of music that originated in Brazil in the late 1950s, and popular through about 1967 or so. The music incorporated elements of samba and jazz and introduced the world to artists such as Sergio Mendes and Joao Gilberto. Many popular American artists (Frank Sinatra, Eydie Gorme, Stan Getz, and others) had success recording Bossa Nova.

Cheesecake – Term usually used to describe album covers that prominently feature attractive women, often in risque poses or dressed in minimal attire. Most often found on albums from the late 1950s and early 1960s.

Colored Vinyl – Term used to describe any record pressed from a color of vinyl other than black. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, some record companies routinely pressed records on colors other than black as a matter of course. Over time, colored vinyl records became limited to either promotional use or as limited edition releases.

You can read more about colored vinyl records here.

Counterfeit – A reproduction of a record, created by unscrupulous individuals with the intention of fooling the buyers into believing they are buying the genuine item. Most often found today with exceptionally rare titles, though in the 1970s, counterfeit copies of new releases were often mass produced and frequently found their way into major record stores.

You can read more about counterfeit records here.

Cover – The paper, cardboard, posterboard, or (rarely) plastic outer covering provided by the record company to hold a single or album. Covers usually have printed titles and often have a photo of the artist, as well as a listing of the contents of the record inside.

Cover Mouth – The portion of the cover that opens to allow for insertion and removal of the record. For albums, this is usually the right side of the cover as you look at the front. For 7″ singles, the opening is usually at the top.

CSG Process (also known as Haeco-CSG) – Short-lived process used from roughly 1968-1970 to compensate for vocals with too much volume when stereo records were played back on mono record players. CSG-encoded records were pressed during the time when monaural records were being phased out of the market.

This encoding solved the problem it was trying to fix while introducing others and was not popular with record buyers. Over time, record companies stopped using CSG encoding as the percentage of record buyers with stereo turntables increased to the point where it became unnecessary.

Cut Corner – A record album with a cover that has part of one of the corners cut off. This was done to indicate that the album had been discontinued (remaindered) and sold at a discount and that it was ineligible to be returned to the store for a refund. While many rare records are often found with cut corners, as many of them sold poorly when new, collectors usually prefer to buy copies that do not have a cut corner.

Cutout – Known in the book industry as a “remainder,” a cutout is a record that has been deleted from a record company’s catalog and is being sold at a discount to get rid of inventory the record company no longer wants.

Cutout albums are usually defaced in one of three ways – a drill or punch hole through the cover, removing a corner from the cover, or cutting a notch in the cover with a saw. These mark the records as being ineligible for a refund and while the covers are defaced, the records inside them are usually fully intact.

Dead Wax – The area immediately outside the label of a record that contains the runout groove and matrix numbers, but no recorded music. The dead wax area of a record is usually 1/4″-1″ wide.

Deep Groove – A ring found in the label area of some pressings from the mid-1950s through the early 1960s. This ring was an indentation, usually about 3″ in diameter, that was caused by certain types of pressing equipment. As record companies phased out that equipment by the mid-1960s, pressings with a deep groove may be indicative of original pressings, rather than later reissues.

Direct Metal Mastering (also known as DMM) – A process used in the manufacture of record albums where the music is cut to a solid metal plate, rather than a softer lacquer. There are advantages and disadvantages to this process, though many listeners prefer the sound of DMM pressings to the lacquer alternative. This process was often used in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and many records mastered using this process prominently have the letters “DMM” somewhere on the cover.

Direct to Disc – A process where the recorded material is performed live and recorded directly to acetate or lacquer, without first being recorded to magnetic tape. While the process produces better sound quality, direct to disc recording requires that an entire album side be recorded live in one take with no breaks. Direct to disc records are also, by necessity, limited edition pressings, as only a few lacquers can be cut at one time.

Double Album – An album containing two records, rather than the customary one.

Drill Hole – A hole drilled through the corner of an album (or less frequently, through the label) by a record company to indicate that the album has been discontinued and may not be returned for a refund. Most records with drill holes were sold at deeply discounted prices.

Duophonic – A proprietary system used by Capitol Records in the early 1960s to simulate stereo on material originally recorded in mono. Duophonic usually added a bit of a delay between the two channels and added reverberation to give a stereo effect to mono recordings.

Duophonic was created when record companies discovered that some buyers would only purchase stereo records, and it was an attempt to sell mono material to those buyers.

You can read more about Duophonic and other “fake stereo” pressings here.

Dynaflex – A short-lived manufacturing process used by RCA Records from 1969 to some time in the mid 1970s. To save money, RCA developed a process to press records using less vinyl than they’d been previously using. The result was a record that was exceptionally thin, more flexible than other records, and much more prone to warpage, though less prone to damage in shipping. On their record covers and inner sleeves, RCA promoted Dynaflex pressings as an improvement in the product.  Buyers disagreed, and often disparagingly refer to Dynaflex as “Dynawarp.”

Dynagroove – Not to be confused with Dynaflex, Dynagroove developed by RCA Records in 1963 to improve the sound of their records on low-end playback equipment. This process increased bass in quiet passages while attempting to reduce high frequency distortion. Unfortunately, this only worked on phonographs with inexpensive conical needles and not more expensive elliptical ones. Owners of more expensive turntables thought the “new” process sounded much worse than the old one.

Audiophiles were unhappy with the process and the resulting sound, and RCA discontinued it about 1970 or so.

Exotica – A type of music introduced in the mid-1950s, usually attributed to pianist Martin Denny. Exotica attempted to introduce music from Asia, the Orient, and Africa to Western listeners, and the music from this short-lived fad often included tribal chants, gongs, and the sound of birds or insects to augment the music.

The popularity of music in the Exotica genre led to lots of backyard parties with people drinking Mai Tais while standing amidst Tiki torches. By the early 1960s, people had moved on from listening to Exotica when they discovered Bossa Nova.

Extended Play – Also known as an “EP”, this term is usually used to describe a 7″ single that plays more than one song per side. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, record albums were quite expensive, and priced at the equivalent of about $50 today.

Record companies occasionally took a 12 song album and sold it as three 7″ records that had four songs each, with pricing that allowed buyers to buy one disc alone or all of them.

Extended play singles were sometimes released as standalone releases of one disc with three or four songs. While the format was quite popular in Britain, it never really caught on in the United States.

In the modern (post-1965) era, an extended play record usually describes a 12 inch record with more than two songs but fewer songs than one might find on an album.

Foxing – The appearance of brown spots on picture sleeves or album covers as they age.   Foxing can occur on all kinds of paper, but it’s most visible on white paper.  For unknown reasons, foxing is quite common on album covers from Japan, and probably seven out of ten Japanese albums have some evidence of it.

Foxing is not an indication of wear or mistreatment by a previous owner.  An album cover can be in mint, untouched condition and still exhibit foxing.  It is simply an artifact of the aging process.

Garage Rock – Raw, unpolished rock and roll from the mid-1960s, inspired by relatively inexperienced musicians who often rehearsed and sometimes recorded in their home garage. Examples include the Castaways, the Sonics, and the Standells.

Gatefold Cover – A record cover that is intended to fold open like a book. Often the inside of a gatefold cover will include lyrics, liner notes, or additional photos of the artist.

Gold Record Award – A framed, gold-plated record, usually with an accompanying plaque, created to commemorate sales of $1 million (later 500,000 copies sold.) In the United States, “official” gold record awards have an RIAA logo, indicating that that organization has certified the sales of that particular record.

These awards are usually given by a record company to the artist, the producer, and other people who were instrumental in helping the album achieve that particular sales milestone.

Hype Sticker – A paper or plastic sticker attached to the shrink wrap or cover of an album, usually with the intention of drawing attention to one or more songs on the album in order to increase sales. Sometimes a hype sticker will indicate that the particular record is pressed on colored vinyl, contains a poster, or is in some way special.

In-House Record Award – A gold or platinum record award that does not have an RIAA certification on it; usually created by record companies to award to their own personnel, rather than to be giving to the artist.

In the collector’s market, in-house awards usually sell for lower prices than RIAA-certified awards.

Inner Sleeve – A paper or plastic sleeve included with a record album that is intended to protect the disc from coming in direct contact with the cover, as the rough surface of the cover might damage the record.

While many inner sleeves are plain paper or plastic, sometimes inner sleeves contain lyrics or other information about that specific recording. On other occasions, record companies used inner sleeves to advertise other albums that might be of interest to the listener or to provide technical information about stereo recordings (1950s) or quadraphonic recordings (1970s.)

Insert – Any piece of paper included with an album other than a poster or inner sleeve. The most common use of inserts is to provide the listener with lyrics to that particular album.

Instrumental – A recording of music that contains no vocals. This applies to most jazz, classical, and surf music recordings.

Jukebox EP – A 7 inch extended-play record manufactured exclusively for use in jukeboxes. Jukebox EPs were primarily made in the 1960s and 1970s, and were usually pressed in stereo and often included a hard cover, similar to an album cover.

A typical jukebox EP would include three songs on each side and come with a small paper reproduction of the album cover and a half a dozen paper “title strips” to be inserted in the jukebox so that customers could select them for play.

Label – The round piece of paper in the center of a record that lists the name of the artist, the name of the album or song, the name of the record company, and other information that may be useful to the buyer or listener.

Lacquer – Another (and more correct) term for an acetate.

Live Album – Usually, an album that contains a recording of an artist performing in an “in concert” setting before a live audience. Occasionally, a recording of a band performing in a studio collectively as a band, rather than recording vocals and instruments individually.

Live albums are often released as either contractual obligations or to provide fans with something to buy during an unusually long delay between releases of studio albums by a particular artist.

Many modern live albums are not entirely live and may contain multiple overdubs added to the live recording in the studio at a later date. A few live albums released over the years weren’t live recordings at all, but were simply studio recordings with overdubbed audience sounds.

Living Stereo – Name used by RCA Records from 1958-1963 for their stereo recordings, which often had a rich, and unusually lifelike recording quality. Many albums from the Living Stereo period in both classical and popular genres are highly valued by collectors.

LP – Technically, a trademarked term by Columbia Records (correctly printed as “Lp”) in the late 1940s to denote their then-new long-playing record format, which could theoretically play up to 26 minutes per side at 33 1/3 RPM.

Popularly, the term is most often used as a slang reference to a record album. (“Have you heard the new Metallica LP?”)

Marbled Vinyl – A record pressed from multicolored vinyl with the vinyl distributed in such a way that the record resembles marble.

Matrix Number – A stamped or handwritten number in the dead wax area of a record. Matrix numbers tell pressing plant employees which record they are making. Matrix numbers may also include an indicator as to which of a series of sequential stampers was used to make a particular record.

Monaural – A method of recording in which all of the music is contained in a single audio channel, and which may be heard through a single speaker. Until 1957, all records were monaural. From 1957-1968, most albums were sold in both mono and stereo.

You can read more about monaural records here.

Multicolor Vinyl – A colored vinyl record that is comprised of two or more colors of vinyl on a single disc.

Obi – On Japanese albums (and some singles), a paper strip, usually about 2 inches wide, that wraps around the cover. The information printed on the obi is almost always in Japanese and includes information for the buyer that may not be printed on the cover.

Historically, many buyers discarded the obi shortly after purchase, as they are easily torn. In some cases, the presence (or absence) of an obi can dramatically affect the price of the record.

Original Cast Recording – A recording of the music, score, or songs from a play, performed by the cast of that play.

Picture Disc – A record pressed from two layers of clear vinyl with a paper image or photo sandwiched in between. Picture disc albums are usually limited edition or promotional items and are often packaged in covers with a die-cut window so that buyers can see the record itself.

The sound quality of picture discs is usually not as good as conventional pressings.

You can read more about picture discs here.

Picture Sleeve – A paper sleeve included with a record (usually a 7 inch single) that has a photo or image printed on it. Picture sleeves usually also list the artist and the name of the songs. Picture sleeves are usually limited in production and many are quite collectible.

Pirate Pressing – A record that contains material that has previously been released commercially but is pressed without authorization from the artist or the record company responsible for that material.

Often casually referred to as “bootlegs,” though that term actually refers to something else entirely.

You can read more about pirate pressings here.

Platinum Record Award – Similar to a gold record award, a platinum record award is a framed, silver-plated record, usually with an accompanying plaque, created to commemorate sales of 1 million copies of a particular album. In the United States, “official” platinum record awards have an RIAA logo, indicating that that organization has certified the sales of that particular record.

Play Hole – The hole in the center of a record that allows the record to fit over a turntable spindle. The hole and spindle keep the record properly centered on the platter so that it will play correctly.

Poster – A photographic insert included with an album that usually folds out to a size that is larger than the album cover itself. Occasionally included as a bonus with some titles, posters can often become quite rare with time, as many buyers hung them on the wall after purchase and failed to put them back in the album cover when they took them off of the wall at a later time.

Progressive Rock – A style of music popular from the late 1960s through the mid-1970s that featured long solos, fantasy lyrics and inventive song structures. Bands such as King Crimson, Yes, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Gong are examples of progressive rock bands.

Promo-only – A record release that was created to be distributed to radio stations or other promotional outlets, but was not intended for commercial sale. Promo-only releases often consisted of previously unavailable live material or compilations of recordings by a given artist intended to promote airplay.

Sometimes, promo-only titles contained the same material as commercial releases, but may have been in a different format from the commercial title, such as being pressed as a picture disc or on colored vinyl.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, some albums that were commercially available only in stereo were released to radio stations in monaural as promo-only pressings.

Promotional Copy – A copy of a record that was pressed for distribution to radio stations or other promotional outlets, but were not pressed for retail sale. Most promotional copies of records have some print or indication on the label that they intended for promotional use, such as “Promotion Copy – Not for Sale” or some similar wording.

Promotional Stamp – A rubber stamped or machine stamped indicator on a record label or cover that indicates that the record is intended for promotional use only. Promotional stamps are usually used when record companies wish to use retail copies (“stock copies”) of records for promotional use.

Prototype – A record that was manufactured as an example of a potential release that was ultimately not released in that form. Prototype records are often pressed in very limited quantities and some are literally unique.

Examples of prototype records might be one-of-a-kind colored vinyl or picture disc pressings.

Provenance – The ability of a seller to demonstrate previous ownership or history of a particular record. Usually of interest to people buying unusual, one-of-a-kind items or items that are represented as being autographed by a particular artist.

Psych – Short for “psychedelic rock,” a short-lived style of rock music that was popular from roughly 1966 to 1970 that featured unusual chords, odd instrumentation, and frequently, long instrumental jams.

Psychedelic rock records were largely an underground phenomenon and many titles were privately pressed releases by artists that did not have national recognition. A number of psych records sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars today.

Examples of psych artists include the 13th Floor Elevators, Mystic Siva, and the C.A. Quintet.

Punch Hole – A hole punched by machine through the corner of an album cover. Unlike drill holes, which were rough holes made with an electric drill a punch hole is a clean hole made by a machine. Punch holes are generally larger than drill holes and were most often used by record companies to indicate that the record was intended for promotional use.

Capitol Records frequently used punch holes to designate their promotional copies. Capitol sometimes used single punch holes and sometimes a series of very small holes that spelled out either the word “free” or the word “promo” in the corner of the cover.

Quadraphonic – A short-lived audio format during the early to mid-1970s that presented music in four channel sound, as opposed to the two channels of stereo.

Quadraphonic music was available in 8-track tape, LP, and reel to reel tape formats and required a four-channel amplifier (or two stereo amplifiers), four speakers, and a turntable, reel to reel tape deck or 8-track player capable of playing back quadraphonic records or tapes.

There were at least three different quadraphonic formats for records, and all were incompatible with the others. Format wars and equipment costs prevented the quadraphonic format from becoming popular.

Collectors are interested in quad records and tapes as the mixes are often dramatically different from the stereo versions of the same albums. In the case of a few quadraphonic records, the recordings are completely different from the stereo versions.

R&B – Short for “rhythm and blues” a term used by record companies in the 1950s to describe music that was primarily marketed to African-Americans. In record collecting, R&B can describe anything from Ray Charles to Robert Johnson to Motown.

Radio Show – A program of live concert performances, audio documentaries, or programs of music and interviews with recording artists intended for radio broadcast only. Syndicated shows such as the King Biscuit Flour Hour, Metalshop, Innerview, and Off the Record are examples of syndicated radio shows.

The live shows are often sought out by collectors of a given artist, and those recordings have often been the source material for bootleg records.

Rechanneled Stereo – Also known as “fake stereo,” rechanneled stereo was an audio format developed by various record companies in the early 1960s to accommodate buyers who refused to purchase any records that weren’t available in stereo. See also: Duophonic

Rechanneled stereo records often created a stereo effect from monaural recordings by using frequency separation, audio delay, and added reverb to make monaural recordings sound “kind of like” stereo, usually with poor results.

Records released in rechanneled stereo usually indicated it on the cover, saying things like “Electronically reprocessed to simulate stereo.” Rechanneled stereo records nearly always sell for lower prices than their mono counterparts.

You can read more about rechanneled stereo here.

Record Grading – A description of a record in terms of its physical condition in order to accurately describe it to potential buyers.

Most record grading is done using the Goldmine system of Mint, Very Good, Good and Poor, with a + or – used to denote grades in between. Some sellers, particularly those based in the UK, use the Record Collector system which uses Mint, Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor.

Record grading is highly subjective, due to the many ways a record can be worn or damaged.

Reissue – A later, rather than original, pressing of a record. Record companies used to delete titles that were no longer selling well, but they would occasionally return a title to print if they felt it was warranted by potential sales.

Such a later pressing is known as a “reissue,” and they’re almost always less desirable to collectors than original pressings.

ROIR – A Record Of Indeterminate Origin. Another term for a bootleg recording.

Saw Mark – A cut in an album cover, usually near a corner, literally made through the use of a saw. Used to mark a record as discontinued and to indicate that it may no longer be returned for a refund.

Sealed – A record that is still encased in shrinkwrap or a factory applied bag. Record companies begn sealing records in the early 1960s in order to prevent vandalism in stores and to assure buyers that the record inside was new and pristine.

Sealed copies of out of print titles often command a premium price among collectors.

Seam Split – A tear along an edge of an album cover, usually caused by the record inside or by improperly inserting or removing the record from the cover.

Shaped Record – A record in any shape other than round. Most often found in picture discs. Shaped records start as round records but are cut using a die shortly after being pressed. Shaped records may be triangular, square, rectangular, hexagonal, octagonal or cut to a custom shape.

Single – A record containing one or two songs, usually sold on the basis of one song alone. Most often found in a 7 inch size playing at 45 RPM, singles have also been sold in 10 inch (78 RPM) and 12 inch (33 1/3 or 45 RPM) sizes.

Soundsheet – Also known as a flexi-disc, a flexible record pressed from ultra-thin plastic. Soundsheets have historically been inserted in magazines or newspapers.

Soundtrack – A recording of a score, music, songs, or dialogue from a motion picture.

Spindle Mark – A physical mark or impression on a record label caused by an inaccurate attempt to place the record on a phonograph or turntable. An abundance of spindle marks, even on a record with little apparent wear, may indicate that the record has been played excessively and may exhibit unwanted noise during playback.

Splatter Vinyl – A record pressed from multicolored vinyl where the vinyl is spread across the record in a scattered, random pattern, rather than swirled, such as with marbled vinyl.

Spoken Word – A recording of someone speaking or reciting printed material, as opposed to singing.

Stamper – The metal plate used to press a record from a “biscuit” of vinyl.

Stamper Number – A number, written or stamped into the dead wax area of some records that indicates which of a sequential series of stampers was used to press that particular record.

Many collectors prefer earlier stamper numbers, either because that record was made closer to the album’s original release date or because records pressed from lower-numbered stampers often sound better than records pressed from higher-numbered stampers.

Not all record companies used user-recognizable systems for denoting stamper numbers, though there are exceptions:

Stamper numbers are easily identified on records by RCA, where the matrix number ends with a dash, a number, and the letter “S.” Example: “-1S”

Other record companies, such as Parlophone in the UK, used a coded system to identify stampers. You can read more about that system here.

Stereo – A recording format where the recorded material is presented in two distinct channels of sound, one on the left and one on the right. The de facto audio standard for records since 1968.

Stock Copy – A copy of a record that was pressed for commercial sale to the public, as opposed to a promotional copy, which was pressed for use by radio stations.

Surf Music – A style of rock music made popular during the early to mid-1960s. Surf music was originally instrumental, and featured distorted guitars with lots of added reverberation. Dick Dale and bands such as the Surfaris and the Chantays specialized in this type of music.

Instrumental surf was later augmented by adding vocals, with the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean being good examples.

Test Pressing – A copy of a record manufactured expressly for evaluation purposes by record company personnel or the artists or producers involved in the recording of that record. Test pressings are often indicated with custom labels that say “test pressing” or blank labels with no information at all.

Test pressings are often identical in sound to later stock copies of that same record, though sometimes test pressings appear on the market that contain earlier versions of songs or songs that were eventually discarded before the album was released.

Timing Strip – A strip of paper, usually 2 to 4 inches in width and about 12 inches wide, that appears on the covers of promotional copies of many albums from the 1960s and 1970s.

This strip usually listed all of the song titles on the album, publishing information, and the running times of the songs.

Sometimes a timing strip included a checkbox next to each song title that allowed a radio station’s program director or disk jockey to indicate which songs they preferred to use for airplay.

Title Sleeve – A paper sleeve for a 7 inch single that has the name of the artist and the title of the song(s) printed on it, but not a photograph.

Similar to a picture sleeve, but without the photo.

UHQR – Ultra High Quality Record, a proprietary type of record pressed by JVC in Japan in the early 1980s. The UHQR was distinguished by its then-heavy 200 gram weight and its unusual “flat” profile in that the record had uniform thickness across its entire surface, where most records were thicker in the middle than they were at the edges.

Only a handful of JVC-pressed UHQR titles were ever released, and as far as we know, such titles were only released by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs, Reference Recordings, and Telarc. All are highly collectible.  The trademarked term UHQR is now owned by Acoustic Sounds, which has recently released a number of titles in that format.

Vinyl – Within the record collecting community, “vinyl” has multiple meanings. It can refer to the physical material used to manufacture a record, but it can also refer to the record format generically, as in, “I’m not going to buy Abbey Road on compact disc; I prefer to buy it on vinyl.”

Wax – Slang for vinyl; usually used by older collectors. “Red wax” and “red vinyl”, for example, are synonymous.

White Label Promo – A promotional copy of a record distinguished by having a white label with promotional indications on it (“Promotion Copy – Not for Sale”) that is distinctly different from the stock copies of the same record, which were sold with colored labels.

You can read more about white label promo records here.

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Vintage Vinyl Records

After a twenty year period of relative scarcity and public indifference, sales of vinyl records are back and have been increasing annually for more than a decade. Nearly all new releases by popular artists are now available in vinyl format, as well as in downloadable form or as compact discs.

While sales of new vinyl records are increasing as more people become familiar with the format, buyers are also turning towards vintage vinyl records as a way of adding to their record collections. In fact, there are currently more than five million records for sale on eBay, and most of those are vintage vinyl records.

The appeal of new records would be immediately obvious – you get a pristine copy of your favorite artist’s newest release. But why would people want to buy vintage vinyl records? What is the appeal of vintage vinyl records to the average buyer or collector?

In this article, we’ll explain why so many buyers are interested in vintage vinyl records and why, for many collectors vintage vinyl records are the only kinds of records that they will buy.

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Increasing Scarcity
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Price Advantages
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Vintage Vinyl Records Conclusion

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Sound Quality

There are many reasons why the average record buyer or collector would be interested in vintage vinyl records, and we’ll get to all of them in this article.

Any reason for preferring vintage vinyl records over new ones is valid, of course; buyers are free to buy whatever they personally like. For many buyers, however, the main reason for buying vintage vinyl records rather than new ones is the sound quality.

The source material for nearly all commercially released recordings is magnetic tape. While a lot of recordings made in the past 30 years were made using digital tape, which can be copied repeatedly without degradation, most of the recordings ever made (and many new ones) used analog tape.

Analog tape does not age well; over time the sound can degrade due to improper storage. Poor storage can cause the coating on the tape that contains the recording to flake off, rendering the tape useless.

Of course, copies of analog tape can be made, just as with digital tape.

Unlike digital tape, however, the sound quality of analog tape gets worse with each subsequent copy. A copy of an original tape will not sound as good as the original. A copy of that copy will sound worse, and so on.

The appeal of vintage vinyl records in this regard is that original pressings of albums were made from tapes that were new at the time the records were pressed. Newly-pressed copies of those same records may be mastered using tapes that are copies of copies of copies.

In the case of some older albums from the 1950s and 1960s, the original master tapes may no longer even exist, and new pressings of these older albums may have been mastered from the best source that’s currently available. While those sources may be quite good, they’re likely not as good as the tapes that were used to press the albums when they were first released 40 or 50 years ago.

While current record manufacturing techniques are quite refined and the quality of the vinyl used in modern pressings is quite good and is capable of producing exceptional sound, the final product is only going to sound good if the record was mastered from a good source.

In the case of some classic albums, the record companies have taken good care of the original master tapes, and current pressings of albums by a lot of artists from the 1950s and 1960s sound just fine. Albums by the Beatles, for example, still sound great, as EMI Records has taken good care of the tapes over the years.

In other cases, the results can vary widely. Columbia Records did not take particularly good care of the master tapes for Simon and Garfunkel, for example, and even though their albums stayed in print for many years after their original release in the 1960s, their albums tended to sound worse and worse over time.

If you’re buying vintage vinyl records and get early pressings of whatever albums you’re seeking, you’ll know that the records were mastered from tapes that were new at the time the records were made and that the tapes used to master the albums were not copies of copies or copies.

In many cases, vintage vinyl records simply sound better than new ones.

Extra Features

Many classic albums are again available in the vinyl format, making it easy for buyers to grab albums by the Doors, Jimi Hendrix, or the Beatles. With the rise of Internet marketing, you can even have new copies of albums these and other artists delivered to your door.

While those new pressings have their advantages, many of them will not include the extra features that once accompanied albums. It was once fairly common for albums to include such extras as postcards, lyric inserts, custom inner sleeves with liner notes or lyrics, or even postcards.

Here is a partial list of albums that originally included a poster when they were new:

• Beatles – The Beatles (aka The White Album)
• David Bowie – Space Oddity
• Black Sabbath – Master of Reality
• Jimi Hendrix – Smash Hits
• Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
• George Harrison – All Things Must Pass
• Cream – Goodbye
• Grand Funk – Live Album
• Ricky Nelson – More Songs by Ricky
• Jimmy Clanton – Jimmy’s Happy/Jimmy’s Blue

Other vintage vinyl records included different sorts of inserts. The 1977 Kiss album Love Gun, for instance, included a special insert that could be assembled to form a cardboard gun. The second album by Country Joe and the Fish included a board game. Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon came with two posters and two stickers.

We’re an American Band by Grand Funk included a set of stickers and the record was pressed on yellow vinyl, as well. Tim Buckley’s Greetings from L.A. had a section of the cover that was removable and could be used as a postcard. This was also true of Duty Now for the Future by Devo.

Live at Leeds by The Who came with a set of 12 different paper inserts, including a reproduction of their contract to perform at Woodstock.

While vintage vinyl records often included these sorts of interesting extras, most recent reissues do not, usually because of cost concerns. That was also true years ago; many vintage vinyl records that included such things as posters often included them only for a short time after the record was originally released, making them somewhat scarce today.

Even original copies of vintage vinyl records that did include such extras as posters can be hard to find complete today, as many of those posters were removed from the album cover and hung on the buyers’ walls. Eventually, those posters all came down from the walls, but they rarely found their way back into their album covers.

Part of the fun of shopping for vintage vinyl records is to find those albums that came with extras and trying to find a copy that’s complete.

Different and/or Better Artwork

Album art is another reason why a buyer might prefer vintage vinyl records to new ones. Of course, an album, by sheer advantage of larger size, will provide better artwork than a compact disc, and certainly better than a download, which comes with no artwork at all.

But there are advantages of vintage vinyl records over new pressings when it comes to artwork, as well. We’ve previously discussed how master tapes can be lost, forcing record companies to settle for not-as-good reproductions. The same is true of album artwork.

Artwork gets created, and then stored in file cabinets, and sometimes the artwork in those file cabinets gets misplaced, thrown away or accidentally destroyed.

When that happens, new artwork has to be created, usually by using an existing album as source material. This can result in new pressings with album covers that have poor quality artwork. The cover art may be the wrong color, or the images may be blurrier than they were on the original.

A good example of this is Bob Dylan’s 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. At some time in the past, the original artwork for the album was lost, and copies of the album made since the 1970s have a blurry, faded photo of Bob Dylan on the cover. Collectors of vintage vinyl records would likely prefer to find an original pressing that had better artwork. In the case of Blonde on Blonde, original 1966 pressings included a photo of actress Claudia Cardinale on the inside of the cover which was later removed for legal reasons.

Most albums sell best when they’re first released, and as sales tapered, record companies would often change cover art to save money. In some cases, vintage vinyl records were released with gatefold covers that were eliminated in later pressings due to cost concerns.

The album that Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks made before joining Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham/Nicks, is a good example. When first released in 1973, the album had a gatefold cover and then went out of print due to poor sales.

Another example is the 1970 LP Let It Be by the Beatles. That album was originally issued with a gatefold cover, but the album went out of print in the mid-1970s. When it was reissued in the 1980s, the album was released without the gatefold cover. Collectors of vintage vinyl records will likely prefer the original version.

The 1971 LP L.A. Woman by the Doors had a cover with a cellophane “window” on the front with the images of band members on it. The yellow paper inner sleeve gave the clear cellophane a yellow appearance. Newer pressings of this LP simply have the image of the band printed on the front cover against a yellow background.

A few years later, after the duo became famous, the album was reissued, but without the gatefold cover. There are many similar examples, and while some current reissues of such albums do include the original cover art, collectors tend to prefer the gatefold covers that often came with vintage vinyl records.

Different Versions

While a surprising number of classic albums are now available again in the LP format, they’re not necessarily available in all of the different versions that may have previously been available. Vintage vinyl records released between 1958 and 1968, for example, were usually released in both mono and stereo. In the early to mid-1970s, many albums were also briefly available as four-channel quadraphonic pressings.

Mono and stereo versions of the same album usually had different mixes, and the two albums often sounded considerably different from one another. Sometimes, the mono version of a particular record might lack backing vocals that could be heard on the stereo version, such as in “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by the Monkees or “Blue Jay Way” by the Beatles.

Sometimes, the mono and stereo versions of the same album might feature different versions of one or more songs. The quadraphonic pressing of Volunteers by the Jefferson Airplane has different versions of several songs from the stereo version. This is also true of The Allman Brothers at Fillmore East, a 1971 live album that has two different versions of songs on the quadraphonic version than those found on the stereo version. One of those songs, “Whipping Post, takes up all of side four!

Record companies discontinued releasing albums in both mono and stereo in 1968. Over the previous three or four years, more people had been purchasing stereo turntables and began to show a preference for stereo records over mono records. When sales of mono LPs reached the point where making them as a separate product from stereo records was no longer economically feasible, record companies discontinued them.

Since the elimination of mono records in 1968, most albums that were originally available in both stereo and mono have only been available in stereo versions. There have been a few mono reissues in recent years of titles by prominent artists, but for the most part, collectors who are interested in having albums by their favorite artists from that era in both mono and stereo are going to have to find the mono version by buying vintage vinyl records.

Some vintage vinyl records were originally available as limited edition colored vinyl pressings or picture discs. While it’s true that some of these records have been reissued this way, most vintage vinyl records that were originally sold that way are not available in those formats as new pressings today.

Availability

Sometimes, the reason people are looking for vintage vinyl records is a simple one – a matter of availability. While there are lots of albums currently available in the vinyl format as new releases (one large retailer currently lists 19,802 new vinyl titles in stock) that hardly represents the entirety of what collectors or music buyers might be seeking.

When companies choose to reissue older albums, they’re interested in sales. If they aren’t sure that they can sell several thousand copies of a given title, then they’re not going to spend the money to press the records.

That’s fine, if you’re interested in albums by the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, or Rush, or Led Zeppelin. But if you’re interested in any one of a thousand other artists, you may be out of luck and vintage vinyl records will likely present your only opportunity to buy that music in the vinyl format.

Fortunately, not all artists are equally collectible, and finding vintage vinyl records by the majority of artists isn’t that difficult, nor is it that expensive. It would be nice if every album ever released was currently available for purchase as new vinyl, but market economics make that highly unlikely. If you’re a fan of Rosemary Clooney, Martin Denny, or Gary Lewis and the Playboys, you’ll likely have to settle for vintage vinyl records.

Increasing Scarcity

It’s a mistake to assume that if something is readily available, it will always be readily available. That’s certainly the case with vintage vinyl records. There was a time, not all that many years ago, when one could usually find boxes of records at yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores.

While vintage vinyl records still occasionally show up in such places, they do so far less frequently and in far smaller quantities. It’s been several years since we’ve seen vintage vinyl records for sale at any yard sale. While we do still occasionally see them at thrift stores, we don’t see them as often, and certain genres, such as jazz and rock, rarely turn up there anymore.

There was a time when we used to see albums by Led Zeppelin or the Beatles at thrift stores, for example, but these days, everything seems to be easy listening. Part of the reason is that people who have such records usually don’t want to donate them to charity; they’d rather give them to friends or family members or sell them on eBay.

Buyers are aware of this, and they know that you’ll have better chances of finding the vintage vinyl records that you want if you buy them now, rather than waiting until later. We know many buyers who would rather spend their limited funds on vintage vinyl records than new ones, simply because the older titles they’re looking for may not be available a year or two from now.

Collectability

As with any other limited commodity, people collect records, just as people collect stamps, coins, or Picasso paintings. While there are certainly new releases that are collectible, particularly as many new releases are limited editions, most record collectors have collections that consist largely of vintage vinyl records.

That’s certainly going to be the case with anyone who collects any major artist – the Beatles, Elvis, Led Zeppelin, or the Rolling Stones, for example. These are artists that are well-established and who released their first records decades ago.

Collectors who are interested in those artists and others of the same era will almost always be interested in obtaining original pressings of at least some of those records. Sure, you can buy the entire Beatles catalog, right now, in the form of new, still sealed records.

But purchasing or owning a copy of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band that was pressed and released in 2018 isn’t the same thing as owning a 1967 original pressing. There’s an indefinable quality to vintage vinyl records that appeals to collectors, and we’ve met many collectors who were interested in owning original copies of rare albums, even if they were in poor condition.

They might have a new copy to play, but the still like having original copies of vintage vinyl records on their shelf and they might very well have a beat up 1967 pressing of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band on the shelf, right next to a new one that they bought last year.

Price Advantages

There can certainly be price advantages to buying vintage vinyl records rather than buying new ones. For the most part, second hand records will cost less than new ones. A new copy of just about any album is likely to be priced at $20 or more, where used records can often be purchased, even in stores, for less than $10, and sometimes for $5 or less, depending on title.

Furthermore, it’s still possible to buy vintage vinyl records at thrift stores, flea markets and yard sales, though as we mentioned above, vintage vinyl records are less common in such places than they used to be.

It goes without saying that collectible vintage vinyl records are not going to be less expensive than new ones. A mint original pressing of that Sgt. Pepper LP by the Beatles is certainly going to cost a lot more than a new copy of a current reissue.

That’s true of many collectible albums, but the truth is that most of the records ever made are not particularly collectible, and records that are not particularly collectible usually comprise the bulk of anyone’s record collection.

We personally own about 2000 albums, and while we do own a number of rarities, we also own hundreds of vintage vinyl records that would likely sell for less than $5 in any marketplace. That’s not to say that we don’t like those records, but not all records, not even all good ones, are valuable.

That might be because they’re records that are largely unknown, records by artists who have mostly been forgotten, or albums that sold so well when they were new that no copies of them are particularly valuable today.

If you’re buying collectible records, you’ll pay more for original pressings than you will for new ones. But if you’re just buying music in general, buying vintage vinyl records will likely save you a lot of money over buying new ones, and that’s assuming that new copies of the titles you’re seeking are even available.

New Discoveries

A final advantage of vintage vinyl records over new ones is the ability to affordably discover new music by artists you might otherwise not have heard.

With the price of new vinyl records averaging about $20 per title, few buyers are likely to grab a title by an unknown artist on a lark, just to see how they sound. Most buyers don’t have enough disposable income to buy records by artists with which they are unfamiliar, so they stick with what they know.

But as we have previously mentioned, most vintage vinyl records are priced affordably, and any well-stocked store that sells second hand records will likely have hundreds or even thousands of affordably priced vintage vinyl records.

The same is true for thrift stores, flea markets, and yard sales. When you find records that are for sale at more affordable prices, you are in a better position to buy something with which you aren’t familiar just to see if you like it.

We’ve purchased countless records over the years that were unknown to us at the time, but had covers that suggested that they might be interesting and prices that were reasonable. Some turned out to be great finds and others not so much. But that’s part of the fun of buying vintage vinyl records – you never know what you’re going to find and sometimes, you end up discovering new artists and genres of music that you might never have bought new.

Vintage Vinyl Records Conclusion

There are reasons for why people buy anything and that applies to cars, houses and vintage vinyl records. While there are lots of good reasons to buy new ones, there are also a lot of compelling reasons to buy vintage vinyl records.

Vintage vinyl records are often more affordable than new ones. There are thousands of titles that aren’t available new anymore and are only available for purchase as vintage vinyl records.

There are many cases where vintage vinyl records offer better sound than newer releases, and that’s particularly true of older recordings where the master tapes may be damaged. Some vintage vinyl records may have originally been sold with posters, booklets or other extra features that newer reissues don’t include.

And finally, vintage vinyl records can offer you the opportunity to find and discover new music and artists that you previously knew little about.

There are times to buy new records, and you’d certainly want to do that if the album in question is a new release. After all, there aren’t going to be any “vintage” versions of an album that came out for the first time last month. But for many buyers, vintage vinyl records offer a lot of advantages over new ones.

While we do have a few new titles in our store, most of the records that we sell are vintage vinyl records.

Click here to view our selection of vintage vinyl records.