Sold Date: May 6, 2023
Start Date: April 28, 2023
Final Price: $59.00 (USD)
Seller Feedback: 342
Buyer Feedback: 0

In any poll of "What were the names of all the Beatles' albums?" this 1966 item might come up least often. It wasn't released in the US at all, and the cover is frankly weird and entirely generic, though definitely amusing retro mod. The back cover photo is wonderful in its unposed movement, and all in all this is a commercial mystery. 
Why did it originally come out in 1966 with several 1966 and 1965 tracks, some from 45s and some LP tracks, mixed in with earlier songs and get called "Oldies," with packaging aimed at the bargain bin? Maybe you had to be there at the time. It was at least the first solution to getting some of their many non-LP tracks onto an LP, "Past Masters"-style, though again, this is as much a collection of LP favorites as a gathering of singles. 
Definitely a cool and surprising item no matter what the idea was, and the songs sound great of course. It's nicely programmed too, jumping around at will between the years 1963-1966 and amounting to a good early Beatles mixtape.
This particular copy is a 1969 pressing from British EMI, with a laminated front sleeve and unlaminated back cover. I hear slight surface noise in the silent grooves between songs, so VG+. I'll rate the sleeve the same, although it suffers from an unnecessary "invisible tape" reinforcement on the flaps on the back. At least this is neatly done, and could perhaps be removed; I just didn't want to mess with it and it's never really bothered me.
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