The making of a Beatles album cover
 |
| The Beatles’ Christmas Album (1970) |
 |
| The back cover |
One of our blog readers is in the possession of the raw materials used to produce the cover of the US Beatles album “The Christmas Album”. He has sent us pictures of this, which we’d like to share with all our readers. All these photos are clickable, so that you can study them in greater detail.
 |
| The collection of photos used |
In UK, the cover of this album was simply a reproduction of the 1963 christmas single, with a large white frame around it. A special cover was produced in the USA, and it looks a lot like it has been inspired by the UK “A Hard Day’s Night” cover. It has individual portraits of John, Paul, George and Ringo, taken at various stages of their career, with a blue frame.
 |
| press photos of The Beatles |
Various press photos of the Beatles were probably readily available at the Capitol records office.
 |
| George and Ringo |
These are individual head shots of George and Ringo, used for the album cover production.
 |
| John and Paul |
Ditto for John and Paul.
 |
| Yoko was removed |
It was probably difficult to find a 1970 photo of John Lennon without Yoko by his side.
 |
| a colour photo of Paul was used, but was rendered in black and white on the cover |
Ringo had to be moved closer to the rest of the guys on this photo from the Mad Day Out photo session of The Beatles sitting on a lawn.
 |
| The cover slick |
 |
| A sealed sample copy |
The Beatles’ Christmas Album (released as From Then to You in the UK), was a 1970 compilation album of the Christmas records issued via the Beatles’ Fan Club—and made available solely to members of their official fan clubs in the UK and the U.S.
It was mailed to them, free of charge, and these albums are now collectors items.
Track listings:
Side one
1. “The Beatles’ Christmas Record” – 5:08
2. “Another Beatles Christmas Record” – 4:02
3. “The Beatles’ Third Christmas Record” – 6:27
4. “The Beatles’ Fourth Christmas Record – Pantomime: Everywhere It’s Christmas” – 6:43
Side two
5. “Christmas Time is Here Again!” – 6:11
6. “The Beatles’ 1968 Christmas Record” – 7:53
7. “The Beatles’ Seventh Christmas Record” – 7:39
The US version had an Apple label.
For the full story, here’s the Wikipedia entry on The Beatles Christmas Album.
very interesting, thanks for posting! best regards from rio de janeiro.
Great photos! Now let's have this album on an official Apple CD already!
next, saw this for sale on ebay. Think it went for approx $900 and also came shipped with some sealed US xmas albums. Would have loved to buy it, but too rich for my blood.
Think it went for over $900
This is truly amazing. What a find! Congratulations to the buyer and thanks for sharing the photos with us!
I love these types of articles, kind of reminds me of the websites from the past (rarebeatles.com, beatlesource.com). Wished they'd update their site. I'm glad to see blogs like this exists!
Very cool post. They always are, but this one is especially nice. Thanks.