BEATLES FOR SALE: When Capitol-EMI first released...

BEATLES FOR SALE: When Capitol-EMI first released Beatles recordings in the early ‘60s, there was plenty of doubt about the group’s long-range sales potential. Thirty years later, there can be no doubt.

Or can there?

Beatles enthusiasts are already warming up their credit cards for Capitol’s release next month of a two-CD collection of the Fab Four’s in-studio live recordings for BBC radio--the first “new” Beatles record since 1980’s “Rarities.” But will the average rock fan care?

“It’s wildly unpredictable,” says Pete Howard, editor of the monthly CD newsletter ICE. “I don’t think this will create new Beatles fans . . . though holiday shopping will help it. Giving a gift of the Beatles is safe not just among baby boomers, but all ages.”

Tommy Nast, senior vice president of the radio and retail trade magazine Album Network, agrees that this could be a big test of how the Beatles’ popularity translates in the grunge era. “I can’t wait to see how the Beatles hold up in the midst of new albums by Pearl Jam and the Black Crowes and other new groups. But how could you ever bet against the Beatles?”