It seems I am now collecting...
RECORDS THAT WERE NEVER MADE!
Please indulge me...this is one thing I know something about...

When I was working at a small radio station in Sandpoint in 1976, I was surprised that the Beatles' "Revolver" album track, "Got to get you into my life" (recorded in 1966), hit the charts ten years later! All through the 70's and '80s, (and even into the '90s), Beatles records have been reissued in various forms, following the relative demise of the Beatles' "Apple Corps" organization. Their U.S. Record Company, Capitol just went ahead and issued Beatles' songs in any combination that they felt would sell. The Beatles didn't like to have their records issued in this manner, but for a long time there was nothing they could do about it.

One such compilation was a 2-record set that came out in 1977, called "Love Songs". It's actually a classy-looking package, with a "wood grain"-simulated brown sleeve, with gold inlay printing. What the record company did, was take "softer" Beatles' songs, such as "If I Fell" or "And I Love Her", and assemble them in that 2-record set. Plans were made to issue two songs from that set, "Girl" (from Rubber Soul) and "You're Gonna Lose That Girl" (from the "Help!" soundtrack) as a single. So, some 16,000 picture sleeves were made, and a few radio-station 'promo' singles were issued, but that's where the story takes a left turn...



...it turns out that Capitol decided NOT to release the single to the general public, for "whatever" reason. Yet they'd issued 16,000 picture sleeves (see above photo). Capitol recouped its investment by selling the sleeves to a relative few record-dealers around the country. Then, some enterprising sound bootlegger decided to go ahead and stamp out illicit bootleg copies of the single that was supposed to be in that picture sleeve. The bootleg copies were pressed on yellow vinyl for some reason. So what you see, in the photo above, is the "real" picture sleeve, alongside the yellow "bootleg" issue of "Girl/You're Gonna Lose That Girl". By the way, the design of the above sleeve uses the same design on the "Love Songs" compilation.

Anyway, when I saw this for sale, I jumped at the chance to get it. So I now have a Beatles record that wasn't MADE...legally, that is. And, the bootlegger went to great lengths to make this bootleg; the words "made by Capitol" are actually STAMPED into the vinyl near the label, something Capitol did on its legitimate pressings. Usually, "bootlegged" music doesn't sound all that good, but this record is in 'True Stereo', and it doesn't sound bad at all. Capitol did press a few "promo" copies for radio stations, but those feature BLACK vinyl.

The Beatles' "Apple" organization regrouped in the late '80s', and bought "issuing rights" from Capitol; shortly after that, the Capitol compilations "Love Songs", "Rock And Roll Music" and a few others issued in the '70s and '80s were taken off the market, in order to be replaced by "Authorized by the former Beatles" re-issues of other compilations, such as "Live at the BBC", "Beatles 1", etc. One collection that never made it to CD at all, is the must-have "Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl", recorded in 1964 and 1965, and issued in the l970's. I won a copy of that from a Spokane Radio Station shortly after it came out. I still have that copy.
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Judging from what I've put in this post, I think my Dad was right: He used to (disparagingly) tell me that I had "a turntable in my head". Well, one can't get thru life without addictions, I suppose...and Beatles record-collecting is mine. Yeah, yeah, yeah...