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Country-specific Beatles Reference Works
Topic Started: Jun 9 2012, 03:40 PM (2,764 Views)
namralos
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The third sticker on the Spanish LP may have been put there by a distributor or retailer. The other two look the same on every copy I have seen.
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socorro
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I recently bought several country-specific discographies I had been meaning to for a long time. The first to arrive is A,B,C, D,, Paul John, George y Ringo!, an Argentina discography that is out of print. It is nicely done, and is two-tracked in Spanish and English. My only complaint is that much of it is in black & white.

I should soon be receiving La France et Les Beatles, Help (3-volume German discography), and Frank's UK Parlophone book.

I snoozed with Jae's Australia discography, so I must now look for it used.

Has anybody read Jason Anjoorian's Japan discography? It is still in print but it was published more than 20 years ago so I worry that there is too much that has been found since then. Yokono's site is so good for the Japan LPs that I would buy the Anjoorian book only if it is outstanding.

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servi
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Yes, I I have the Anjoorian book. It is not by far as good as the yokono website. It was good at the time it was released because there was nothing else, but there are some mistakes, e.g. that all LPs are released on black vinyl. It has some interesting info though on promo releases and test pressings plus a nearly complete solo discography.
La France et les Beatles is superb, a great number of label variants and nice colour photographs of many documents from Pathe Marconi. Only disadvantage is that it is in Frenh so it takes some effort to understand everything in detail. Krasker has also written another excellent book called Beatles Facts and Fiction, mainly about the Hamburg time.
The Argentina book indeed is nicely done indeed and I agree about the b/w part, but the great thing here is also the documents from EMI.
The best discography book IMO is The Italian sides of the Beatles, because it also shows all rereleases and pictures of every label (instead of only details) in super quality.
The Beatles in Belgium by Renaat Develte is also,worthwhile to obtain because it not only is about records but also focuses on Belgian links to the Beatles such as Magritte and Toots Thielemans.
Frank's book is great because of its size and near completeness, which is an amazing achievement given the huge number of UK label variants. Plus the printing quality is excellent.
For the Polydor releases you might want to buy "From cavern to star club" by Gottfrisson. It also includes an EP and tells a detailed story of the early years. Despite some mistakes (corrected by Krasker in his book) it's really a great book to read imo and it's still the only book with that amount of details about the early recordings.
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socorro
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I agree that The Italian Sides Of The Beatles is the model for a country-specific work. It provides comprehensive information and color photographs of all label and sleeve variations, and tells the story of the companies, the market, and the fans.

It sounds like I can skip the Anjoorian book.

The existing discographies are concentrated in Europe and a few other big markets. The challenge for many of the places I focus on is that so much is unknown. Given the passage of time and the likelihood that documents have been lost and knowledgeable employees have died or disappeared, it may be unknowable.

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AurelianDE
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servi,Feb 8 2016
08:22 PM
La France et les Beatles is superb, a great number of label variants and nice colour photographs of many documents from Pathe Marconi. Only disadvantage is that it is in Frenh so it takes some effort to understand everything in detail. Krasker has also written another excellent book called Beatles Facts and Fiction, mainly about the Hamburg time.
....
For the Polydor releases you might want to buy "From cavern to star club" by Gottfrisson. It also includes an EP and tells a detailed story of the early years. Despite some mistakes (corrected by Krasker in his book) it's really a great book to read imo and it's still the only book with that amount of details about the early recordings.

The book by Gottfridsson may be the most detailed but it is almost 20 years old and has a couple of -- if we believe Eric Krasker -- essential mistakes.

But did you know that a new edition of La France et les Beatles is coming? The new edition will correct a couple of mistakes and include many additional details that have come to light since it was first published, and it will be published in English (information: Krasker himself, via a forum).

-- mumble, mumble to myself: Shame, I bought the French edition only recently. Although I only have 5 or six French Beatles records. There's so much injustice in the world. --
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servi
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That's excellent news about the France discography !
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socorro
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Sounds like my timing was bad for La France Et Les Beatles. Oh well.

This morning I received the 3-volume German LP discography. It is amazing. Truly stunning level of detail, and a beautiful presentation -- three large (25 cm x 30 cm) hardcover volumes in a slipcase. It includes full-size color photos of every label variation they could confirm. Highly recommended.
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Garfield
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A "critic" size in german can you found on fb, it has many additions and corrections for the HELP discography though: https://www.facebook.com/groups/229556827249296/
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AurelianDE
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socorro,Feb 10 2016
05:21 AM
Sounds like my timing was bad for La France Et Les Beatles. Oh well.

Just like mine. But there hasn't been an official anouncement yet. It seems he's still working on it (or a translator is). He mentioned it only last December or late November, IIRC.

Is the HELP book essential? Far too expensive for my purposes, although it may be a great tool for identification of particular copies. It's not my ambition to have 33 label variants of one German album and 12 of the next. One seller on ebay.de always quotes the HELP reference number in his auctions, and I've encountered 'not in "HELP"' a couple of times there. New variants may surface any time. Do you want to have all these?

I'm not on fb, so Garfield's link doesn't work for me (it requires you to log in). Is there a possibility to link to it directly and avoid the bouncer at the door, Garfield?

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socorro
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The Help set is not cheap, but it is a very polished presentation. I have no intention of collecting all the variations of German LPs, but I enjoy increasing my understanding. In a way, I see this as a substitute for trying to collect them all.
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Garfield
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AurelianDE,Feb 10 2016
01:40 PM


I'm not on fb, so Garfield's link doesn't work for me (it requires you to log in). Is there a possibility to link to it directly and avoid the bouncer at the door, Garfield?

Really don't know, sorry.
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servi
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Just got "Variations 1" by Serge Pelletier which is very detailed. It lists every LP from 1963-1970, incl all repressings and label variants. It's excellent.
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socorro
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Is it Canada only, or other countries ?
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servi
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Canadadian LPs only.
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