Beatles For Sale

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From The Beatles:

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

The album had been recorded in seven days, scattered between August and October, when the band’s schedule was crammed with stage performances in the UK, Canada and the US, as 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 once the album sleeve was opened. There was a new author for the cover notes, too – Derek Taylor. Check out 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 week run at the top of the US charts 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.

Last updated on May 1, 2021

Special editions

Beatles '65 (2004 remaster)

By The Beatles • Official album

Beatles '65 (2014 reissue)

By The Beatles • Official album

Beatles '65 (Mono)

By The Beatles • Official album

Beatles '65 (Stereo)

By The Beatles • Official album

Beatles for Sale (Mono - 2009 remaster)

By The Beatles • Official album

Beatles For Sale (Mono - 2014 vinyl)

By The Beatles • LP

Beatles for Sale (Stereo - 2009 remaster)

By The Beatles • Official album

Related singles

Beatles for Sale

By The Beatles • EP

Beatles for Sale (No. 2)

By The Beatles • EP

Related bootlegs

Beatles For Sale - Studio Sessions - Back To Basics

By The Beatles • Unofficial album