BEATLES FOR SALE 1964

For me this offering for the 1964 Christmas market is far from the best album by The Beatles, though there are some gems on it - I’m a Loser, Every Little Thing, and of course Eight Days a Week. But it is mainly the cover I’m interested in. Autumnal colours, four unsmiling moptops dressed in black. At this time The Beatles had mostly represented something very joyous, but in Robert Freeman’s iconic portrait they look pretty glum, and the picture has some odd flashing reflections. It’s an interesting image. Note that the title of the record is in very small script, and nowhere is THE BEATLES  emblazoned on it. Also and unusually for that time, it’s a gatefold sleeve. (See extra photie.)
 This is the first in an occasional series on album cover art.