Table of Contents

The 20th of February 1974

Official U.K. Albums Chart results from Sunday the 17th to Saturday the 23rd of February 1974

Cut-off for sales figures was up to the end of Saturday the 16th of February

Results counted from Sunday the 17th,

and published on Wednesday the 20th of February 1974.

The Beatles

1962-1966

At No.36, on the “The Top 50 U.K. Albums Chart”, the week of my 2nd Birthday, are The Beatles with 1962-1966.

The Red Album…

…(as this would affectionately come to be known), was sitting very comfortably in the mid-chart positions as I meet up with it for the first time along my musical road.

Although all four members had distanced themselves quite effectively by now, and had all begun their own solo careers in earnest, with each of them having crossed my path already with either a single, an album, or both; it seemed that with collections like this, their past was never that far away to remind them how dominant they all were when they were together back then.

John Lennon – No.43 in the UK Albums Chart on My 2nd Birthday

Ringo Starr – No.15 in the UK Singles Chart on My 2nd Birthday

Wings – No.34 in the UK Singles Chart on My 1st Birthday

The Concert For Bangla Desh – No.11 in the UK Albums Chart on My Birth Day

At this point in my 2-year old life,..

…I had no real clue who The Beatles were. Nothing on this album do I remember being played on the radio or seen on TV at this stage; although it surely must have been around. Also, no-one in my family home had any Beatles output on anything. I was slightly older when I discovered my Auntie Vi had the single of “She Loves You” which, when I eventually played it on her red Ultra portable record player, sounded amazing; but she also had other great singles too, such as Elvis Presley‘s “Wooden Heart“, Gerry and the Pacemakers‘ “I Like It” and Herman’s Hermits‘ “I’m Into Something Good” among countless others, which I would stack up and play one by one.

I suppose the first Beatles songs which I remember consciously catching my attention on the radio eventually at home were the songs from around the “Rubber Soul” era; so tracks like “We Can Work It Out” and “You Won’t See Me“, or possibly “Day Tripper” or “I Feel Fine“, but like I mentioned, I think that came later.

Evidently,..

…the song “Ticket To Ride” bears reference to the town I currently live in on the Isle of Wight.

So the story goes, Paul and John used to ferry over to the island to meet up with Paul’s cousin Betty who owned a pub in Ryde. Paul, after a little wordplay to change the spelling after getting his ferry ticket to Ryde, gave this song it’s title. He would later confirm and tell this story during a press conference for the launch of his book “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” in November 2021; exactly a month prior to me moving to the town from Cowes that very year.

https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/19729944.ryde-definitive-inspiration-behind-beatles-hit-ticket-ride

It’s become widely known,..

…the creation of these albums were a direct response to the bootleg “Alpha Omega” release in America, and even though their manager at the time was just wrong for the band, his passing shot (right before he was escorted from the premises) of releasing the official assortments, was unquestionably one of the best moves he ever made.

In my view, this particular album especially, is the compilation for which all others must aspire to. In my humble opinion, there have been other collections, whether they be Best Of’s, Greatest Hits, Ultimate’s or something else a band or artist have called their own collective reminisces entirely, which have at some stage tried in vain to come close, but for sheer quality of output, this album in that collective context, to me, has never been bettered.

The album…

…had first entered the chart back in the previous spring of 1973, when it had landed at No.6 on the 29th of April, and had then climbed the following week to what has become it’s peak position to date of No.3, from where it sat for most of the month of May before slipping a little.

It would stay in the Top 10 for a big chunk of the summer until dropping further back during the first week of August, to then eventually and surprisingly fall out of the chart completely after the 25th of that month.

As autumn came around, the LP clambered back in to sit at No.49 at the beginning of September, for which would become a far lengthier stay; taking it through into this year of 1974 and up to this week in the chart.

From here,..

…the Double LP will bob up and down the numbers, sometimes almost getting back to the Top 10, and other times almost dropping back off the edge.

Eventually though, it will do just that, and disappear once again. Although, by the time that happens after the 2nd of November, it will have racked up a non-stop second run in the chart of well over a year. Add that to the 17 weeks it collected from its first run, its total will at this point stand at a respectable 78 weeks.

It comes as no surprise then, that the album will make a return; and so, I will catch up with it when it joins me at a future birthday.