Identifying Original French Beatles Albums

Typical French OSX series Album

Dark Blue/Orange Odeon

The earliest Odeon label style has ODÉON in large letters across the top of the label. Before some time in early 1964, the labels were dark blue in color, but for most of the mid 60's they were orange.

Those albums which were originally issued on the early Odeon label are as follows:

NOTE: ALL of the OSX series are hard to find and thus difficult to pinpoint values for. All values should be considered approximate. 14 Greatest Hits (shown above) is particularly desired because it was a "hits" compilation that was not available elsewhere.

Red Odeon

In Spring of 1966, Odeon replaced their earlier label with a red label and their logo with a logo that more closely resembled the logos used in other countries. The red label appears on all Odeon releases of the time, but when France took up the EEC numbering in 1969, they stopped using the original catalog numbers (shown below) on Beatles releases.

Records originally released on the red label are shown below. You will notice that many records which were originally released on the dark blue/orange label were reissued and given new catalog numbers.

NOTE: Since by this time France was following the British/European selection of albums, at some points their releases actually used the British or German catalog numbers, such as Sgt. Pepper, shown above, which has the UK number. These were not British records. They had the usual French labels; only the catalog numbers were foreign.

Apple Albums

In late 1968, all new Beatles releases switched to the Apple label. By April, however, France had become part of the European Economic Community (EEC). From that point on, most records, new and rerelease, would be issued with the new EEC numbering system. Most albums from Yellow Submarine on feature the new numbering. Here is a list of French Beatles albums on the Apple label.

NOTE: The White Album was originally issued, as in England, with a top-loading cover, numbered, and with 4 pictures and a poster.

NOTE: Magical Mystery Tour was originally released, as in England, in EP form in 1967. Following the success of the US album, Apple released MMT as an album in late 1971. This album contains the first stereo appearance anywhere of "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and the second stereo appearance of "Penny Lane." The French album and German album are the same.