The Beatles vs The Rolling Stones: The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week
Welcome back to Far Out’s weekly vinyl corner feature, where we look to bring you a tempting selection of records from some of our favourite artists, bargain vinyl deals to look out for, and unmissable limited-edition releases. This week, we’re celebrating the 1960s’ greatest rock rivalry with the best albums by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
Vinyl sales grew for the 15th consecutive year in 2022, rising to 5.5million units, the highest level since 1990, when …But Seriously by Phil Collins was the year’s biggest-selling studio album. The return to plastic has steadily climbed since the invasion of streaming services in the late 2000s. While the weightless, highly accessible and practical format is great for discovering and consuming swathes of new music while you’re out and about, there’s nothing like coming home to a bit of vinyl.
Fellow collectors will agree that if there’s an artist or album you love, there’s always a good reason to have the turntable at the ready and a 12″ slot reserved on the shelf for inevitable expansion. The sound quality of vinyl brings something more hearty and vibrant with its analogue warmth and crisp definition that there really isn’t a substitute for.
So if, like me, you have a soft spot for these groovy discs of plastic, allow me to walk you through ten hot picks for this week. The list includes essentials from the Beatles’ late 1960s output and The Rolling Stones’ essentials of the early 1970s.
The following selections have been handpicked by Far Out Magazine, and as a result, we may earn from qualifying purchases.
The 10 best vinyl deals available on Amazon this week:
The Beatles – Rubber Soul
Rubber Soul arrived in late 1965 as the year’s second LP following Help! Rubber Soul marked a distinctive shift in sound allegedly inspired by Bob Dylan’s mid-1960s output and the beginning of the Beatles’ drug odyssey. Earlier in the year, the Fab Four had met Bob Dylan for the first time, who also introduced them to the wonders of marijuana.
Rubber Soul was tinged with Dylan’s influence throughout, but the most obvious replication was in ‘Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)’. Following its release, the track angered Dylan to the point of reprimanding John Lennon. Elsewhere on the album were classic hits like ‘In My Life’, ‘I’m Looking Through You’, ‘Girl’ and ‘Michelle’.
Available for purchase here for £25.95.
The Rolling Stones – Aftermath [Rare Early Pressing]
The Rolling Stones saved their most audacious mid-60s pop experiments for singles – ‘Paint It Black’, ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ ‘Have You Seen Your Mother’, ‘Baby’, ‘Standing in the Shadow?’ However, Aftermath held a healthy set of Stones essentials. It was pivotal as the band’s first album to consist entirely of original compositions, all of which were credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Aftermath was released in April 1965 as the Stones’ answer to the Beatles’ highly popular Rubber Soul, which took on the first hints of psychedelia following Help! Aftermath is home to highlights such as ‘Mother’s Little Helper’, ‘Under My Thumb’, ‘Out of Time’, and ‘Lady Jane’.
Available for purchase here for £49.00.
The Beatles – Revolver [Deluxe Collector’s Edition]
In the mid-1960s, The Beatles began transitioning towards an increasingly psychedelic and experimental rock sound, detached from their roots in 1950s rhythm and blues music. Following the Bob Dylan-inspired Rubber Soul of 1965, the Liverpool lads got to work on Revolver.
The album is widely considered the group’s masterpiece, although thanks to the strength of the following three albums, it’s a matter of violent contention. Revolver is home to classics like ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Taxman’, ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. This special collector’s edition includes new remixes, a four-track EP, 31 session takes and demos and a 100-page book with a foreword written by Paul McCartney.
Available for purchase here for £137.98.
![The Beatles - Revolver [Deluxe Collector's Edition]](https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/static/uploads/1/2023/02/The-Beatles-Revolver-Deluxe-Collectors-Edition.jpg)
The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet
For many, 1968’s Beggars Banquet marked the beginning of The Rolling Stones’ peak period of the late ’60s and early ’70s. Following Their Satanic Majesties Request, the band’s misguided psychedelic excursion, they returned to their roots in blues-based rock ‘n’ roll.
Beggars Banquet was also the last Stones album released during Brian Jones’ lifetime. He had become increasingly withdrawn during the sessions amid his worsening substance abuse issues and performed the fantastic slide guitar on ‘No Expectations’ as one of his final contributions. The album is also home to the classic hits’ Sympathy for the Devil’, ‘Street Fighting Man’ and ‘Stray Cat Blues’.
Available for purchase here for £27.50.
The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles’ psychedelic masterpiece, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, was released in 1967 at the height of hippie hysteria. In an attempt to reinvigorate their public image, The Beatles imagined themselves as a new band clad in colour and killer moustaches.
The Rolling Stones’ answer to this album was Their Satanic Majesties Request, the closest to psychedelia the blues fanatics would dare to venture. Their album was a flop, pushing them back to the rails of their tried and tested formula. Sgt. Pepper’s is home to such classics as ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘With a Little Help from My Friends’, ‘Within You Without You’ and ‘A Day in the Life’.
Available for purchase here for £31.20.
The Rolling Stones – Let It Bleed
Through the mid-1960s, The Rolling Stones weaned themselves from the sanctuary of their beloved blues covers as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards sharpened their songwriting skills. Their transition toward more pop-orientated hits sadly alienated founding member Brian Jones, who was dismissed from the group in June 1969, just a month before his tragic death.
Around this time, the Stones became titans of the British rock scene. In 1969, they somehow improved on the previous year’s Beggar’s Banquet with the brilliant Let It Bleed. This essential LP sealed off a highly successful decade and laid the blueprint for an even more successful ’70s.
Available for purchase here for £26.99.
The Beatles – The Beatles (The White Album)
In 1968, The Beatles released their most sprawling and ambitious album, The Beatles. The plain-sleeved double LP release is better known among fans as “The White Album” and was notably divisive following Sgt. Pepper.
While some fans commend the album’s impressive spread of styles and themes, others complain that it’s a random jumble of ideas that could have been filed down to one brilliant LP and a batch of B-sides. Highlight tracks on the album include ‘Back in the USSR’, ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Happiness Is a Warm Gun’ and ‘Blackbird’.
Available for purchase here for £38.59.
The Rolling Stones – Sticky Fingers
In 1971, The Rolling Stones opened the decade’s offerings with a bang. Sticky Fingers brought controversy with its suggestive title and its Andy Warhol-created cover art to match. Within, the music boasted some of the Stones’ most emotive lyrics and iconic riffs, courtesy of Keith Richards.
The brooding and emotional ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘Sister Morphine’ are juxtaposed by the eternally iconic rock-outs, ‘Brown Sugar’, ‘Can’t You Hear Me Knocking’ and ‘Bitch’. Sticky Fingers undoubtedly showed the Stones at their peak as they swiped the rock ‘n’ roll throne from the recently disbanded Beatles.
Available for purchase here from £25.57.
The Beatles – Abbey Road
While Abbey Road may have marked the beginning of the end for The Beatles, in creative terms it holds up as one of the band’s most refined and enjoyable albums. In yet another ambitious release, The Beatles bring a varied mixture of tracks with heavier rock moments, plaintive ballads and even a track penned by Ringo Starr.
Abbey Road marked George Harrison’s maturation as a songwriter as he submitted two of his most enduring hits, ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’. Frank Sinatra famously said the former was the greatest love song of all time. Elsewhere, the album is highlighted by ‘Come Together’, ‘Oh! Darling’, ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’ and the brilliant medley on side two.
Available for purchase here for £27.89.
The Rolling Stones – Exile on Main St.
Fans have long argued over whether Sticky Fingers or its follow-up, Exile On Main St. deserves the crown as the Stones’ greatest album. For me, the latter just about takes gold over Sticky Fingers thanks to its vast range of themes and styles and the rough edges that seem to perfectly frame the Stones at a crucial moment in their history.
Exile On Main St. was recorded, as the title suggests, while the Stones were in tax exile away from the UK in France. Over the two LPs, particularly memorable moments include ‘Rocks Off’, ‘Rip This Joint’, ‘Tumbling Dice’, ‘Sweet Virginia’ and ‘Happy’.
Available for purchase here for £31.03.
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