Beatles For Sale

Beatles For Sale was released on 4th December, 1964 just 21 weeks after A Hard Day’s Night. It was their fourth album release in less than two years.

Beatles For Sale had been recorded on seven days scattered between August and October when their schedule was crammed with stage performances in the UK, Canada and the US and well as radio and television work. Given the lack of time it was not surprising that the group reverted to the 1963 formula of eight original songs and six covers.

No single was released in the UK from Beatles For Sale – the non-album tracks “I Feel Fine” and “She’s A Woman” performed that role – however, that coupling was followed-up in the US by “Eight Day’s A Week” (b/w “ I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”) which became their 7th # 1 in March 1965.

The cover portraits again taken by Robert Freeman adorned an unusual gate-fold package with the pocket containing the disc only revealed one the album sleeve was opened. There was a new author for the cover notes too – Derek Taylor. Check out his the prophetic nature of his notes penned in the autumn of 1964!

The album hit the UK number one spot and retained that position for eleven of the 46 weeks that it spent in the Top Twenty.

Again Beatles For Sale did not surface as a regular album in the US until 1987. In its place was “Beatles ‘65” which featured eight songs from Beatles For Sale, plus the A and B-side of ‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘I’ll Be Back’ from the UK ‘s ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ album. This album enjoyed a nine weeks run at the top of the US charts in beginning in January, 1965. The remaining tracks from Beatles For Sale appeared on a later Capitol release ‘Beatles VI’ released in June, 1965. This too made the # 1 position, which it held for six weeks.

NME Friday, November 13th, 1964

Just three weeks from today, the new Beatles album will be available in your local record store – in fact, it will be a case of ‘Beatles For Sale’ on Dec 4. It’s rip-roaring, infectious stuff, with the accent on beat throughout.

There are 14 tracks, including eight new Lennon-McCartney compositions. Numbers by Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly and the Lieber-Stoller team complete the composing. These non-Beatles tracks are included for a purpose, they reflect the early years of the group because they were mostly numbers that raised screams at the Cavern club in Liverpool. Nowadays, the Beatles don’t get much chance to play them. The LP is overflowing with absorbing and distinctive Beatle trademarks.