We here at The Record Album in Brighton have been pretty busy during the lockdown and we hope you will notice the changes in the shop and the hundreds of new soundtracks, jazz, musicals, pop, rock and soul records we have added to our stock since last you visited.
We also made a very interesting discovery during our enforced period of closure.
Ben was looking through several incomplete copies of The Beatles, better known to all as The White Album, when he came across a second LP in a white inner (as experts will know, White Album inners should be black). And on that inner were four signatures. You guessed it: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. All are perfectly legible and probably written with the same pen.
Could they be real? You can see the picture of them here.
It’s very hard for us to tell. The record has been in a cupboard for some time since we acquired it so we can’t vouch for it’s provenance. A quick look on the internet suggests the signatures could be real although it is by no means conclusive, not least because the signatures of the four Beatles changed over their careers and there is a booming industry in fake Beatle autographs.
It has left us with a number of questions. If they are real, why are they on a white paper inner in a White Album set? If they are not real, what are they – an eager fan’s attempt to copy the real signatures? If so, why? And again why do it on a paper inner that did not come with the record?
This item is not for sale, at least until we have established to our satisfaction that the signatures are authentic, but we welcome the views of our customers, a group who we know include a number of Beatles experts. Come and have a look for yourself – just ask Ben, David, Zak or Keith to show you the inner – or have a look at the pictures and drop us a line at info@therecordalbum.com or on our Facebook page The Record Album. All advice welcome.
And by the way we have lot of genuine Beatles stock in the racks at the moment, including a complete mono first press of Sgt Pepper’s, the first four fan club Christmas singles, a tour programme from 1964 and a number of rare picture discs. We look forward to seeing you in the shop soon.
The Record Album is open on Fridays and Saturdays from 10am to 5pm until further notice.