fall inside a hole
My Classic Rock Eight Track Cartridge Collection
I got into collecting eight track tapes when I was in middle school - I went to a church rummage sale and there was a beat-up copy of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and a bootleg tape of singles for 25 cents each, and I spent the next several years hunting flea markets and garage sales for other good tapes. I started buying tapes from bands I knew but eventually for the right price (less than a dollar a tape) I bought anything that looked cool or interesting or that I had heard of before.
| Cartridge repair | Classic rock tapes | Other good tapes | Blank cartridges | Odd and quad tapes |
Shown here are some of the cartridges I have come across from groups that would fall into the rough category of "classic rock," which is what I would define as my go-to favorite genre of music and one of the main things I sought out on eight track.
The Beatles eight track tapes
North American Beatles eight tracks were originally produced in the period Capitol Records-style white with pink label cartridges in the 1960s, with Abbey Road and later releases and rereleases coming on black cartridges as was the later style used in the 1970s.
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Older white cartridge Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. I bought this one online and "rebuilt" with new foam and splice years ago |
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U.K. release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band by Parlophone EMI in a Capitol-like white five-tab shell. Many U.K. releases had slipcases with color art and only black and white on the cartridge, but this release has a color label (taped over at some point in this example) |
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Older release of the Beatles' self-titled album on two white cartridges. Also produced in the style of Capitol shell with outwardly-curved grips at the end | |
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White-shell, black-label Venezuelan release of the White Album by Musitron | |
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Original 1969 release Abbey Road in Apple Records cardboard slip sleeve, similar to the regular Capitol version | |
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Note the black and white Apple logo on the Zebra crossing | |
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Hey Jude, a compilation of non-singles and B-sides on eight track | |
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Let It Be on eight track from 1970 | |
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A beat-up 1970 Abbey Road reissue with green Apple logo in the album art area. Later rereleases had the round Capitol logo in place of both Apples | |
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1970 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band reissue Capitol eight track. This was the first eight track cartridge I owned | |
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The White Album two-tape sets came in cardboard slipcases. Older releases include the Apple Records logo in the gold design | |
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The later black-cartridge Capitol release from the 70s | |
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The Beatles 1962-1966, released in 1973 | ||
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The Beatles 1967-1970. Both these compilations are relatively common tapes | ||
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The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl in Capitol slipsleeve |
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Beatles Love Songs with a brownish texture-printed tape label and later Capitol Audiopak shell |
Post-Beatles works
Tapes from the Beatles after they broke up
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George Harrison's All Things Must Pass on two cartridges. This release seems to be somewhat common | |
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Ringo Starr's 1973 Ringo on Capitol eight track tape |
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Band on the Run by Paul McCartney & Wings on eight track | |
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Wings at the Speed of Sound | |
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Ringo the 4th on an Atlantic/Warner Capitol Audiopak cartridge |
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Wings Greatest on eight track | |
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Double Fantasy on Geffen Records Warner Bros. clipped eight track |
The Who eight track tapes
My personal favorite 60s/70s British rockers, in particular their seminal rock opera Tommy
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Initial Decca release of Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy on eight track |
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A Record Club of America release of Tommy by the Who that shows their odd habit of not bothering to split the track listing for programs 1 and 2 and 3 and 4. Unfortunately, its also the eight track cut of the album that takes out Christmas, one of my favorite songs in the whole opera | |
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A later MCA rerelease of the original Decca Twin Pack eight track release, which is the cut to seek out - the entire album, with the odd exception of having the overture at the end of program 4. This lets you leave the tape stopped at that point, still ready to pick up with no songs split across splices or you can fast forward the end of the cartridge or leave it in auto-eject to queue it back up to start at It's A Boy | |
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Soundtrack to the film adaptation of Tommy in Columbia House Record Club release sleeve | |
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The cartridge sticker is marked Polydor | |
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MCA rerelease of Who's Next |
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Soundtrack tape to the 1979 film The Kids Are Alright on eight track |
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1981's Face Dances on hard-to-open Warner eight track |
Pink Floyd eight track tapes
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Dark Side of the Moon on a Capitol-style cartridge, a classic that suits eight track |
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Wish You Were Here on Columbia three-tap tape with Dolby B encoding |
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Pink Floyd's Animals, one I found at a yard sale - the conjoined version of Pigs on the Wing famously has a guitar solo by Snowy White not used on any other version |
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Pink Floyd's The Wall on Columbia eight track - the first format I owned and listened to it on |
Rush eight track tapes
I don't see Rush on eight track too often, perhaps because most of their success happened after the eight track had been relegated to the Columbia Record Club...
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Canadian release All The World's A Stage in colorful bilingual Columbia Records of Canada sleeve | |
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I found this cartridge and a couple of other decent tapes including some other Canadian imports at a ham radio show some years ago | |
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Rush A Farewell To Kings on a three-tab Mercury eight track |
Queen eight track tapes
I have come across a decent number of Queen eight tracks over the years, although I wouldn't mind finding a copy of their second album with the full version of Seven Seas of Rhye some time...
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Queen's first album, with a nice pink 70s Elektra label | |
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A Night at the Opera, the first album of theirs I owned on eight track - I listened to this one on repeat a lot | |
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News of the World on eight track. I remember staring at the cover of my parent's copy of this album as a kid | |
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RCA Music Service club release - I've come across this same variant twice |
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Queen's The Game on Elektra in a later Warner Brothers clipped cartridge |
Alice Cooper eight track tapes
Alice Cooper was one of the artists that I got into from listening to eight track tapes
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I really like Alice Cooper's Halo of Flies, but because I mostly listened to it on this eight track I remember it with the fade out, clunk, and fade back in | |
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Alice Cooper's 1980 Flush the Fashion on eight track |
Led Zeppelin eight track tapes
Even if I don't usually listen to their albums in their entirety, I pick up Led Zeppelin eight tracks when I see them
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A record club rerelease of Led Zeppelin's untitled "IV" album |
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Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti on pink Atlantic cartridge - these pink tapes with plain black labels originally came in slipcases with the album artwork on them |
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In Through the Out Door on eight track - I think I have two of these hanging around |
Doobie Brothers eight track tapes
The Doobie Brothers was another group I got into on eight track - for some periods of time I bought any (cheap) eight track from a name I recognized and gave most of them a listen, and I quite liked the sequencing on their Greatest Hits cartridges
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Best of the Doobies on original Warner Bros. eight track cartridge |
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A Columbia Record Club reissue of Best of the Doobies on eight track - I used to listen to these tapes on a G.E. Loudmouth portable while mowing the lawn | |
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Minute by Minute, somewhat common on eight track |
Steve Miller Band eight track tapes
I had certainly heard Steve Miller Band songs before, but the first time I listened to any of their albums all the way through was on eight track
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Steve Miller Band's tenth album Book of Dreams on eight track, featuring classics Jet Airlines, Swingtown (split across the splice), and Jungle Love | |
Aerosmith eight track tapes
Aerosmith's initial success in the 1970s was well-represented on the eight track format
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The last of Aerosmith's 1970s albums on eight track |
Fleetwood Mac eight track tapes
Fleetwood Mac's Rumours is certainly one of the most common eight tracks I come across
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The very common tan Rumours release in a clipped Warner Bros. cartridge | |
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The less common much more yellow release, which in addition to using a rear-pegged shell also has the metal spring type tape pads, which tend to hold up a little better |
Eagles eight track tapes
The Eagles' Hotel California is another common eight track with a couple different releases
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One of These Nights, the Eagle's breakthrough on quadraphonic eight track |
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The "sign" variant cover of Hotel California on eight track | |
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The Eagle's final studio album from their original run, The Long Run on eight track |
Bob Seger eight track tapes
Several of Bob Seger's later 1970s albums are pretty common on eight track, at least in the midwest where I've bought most of mine
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Brand New Morning on Capitol eight track. Capitol generally had black sections at the bottom of their labels but occasionally did a different color or texture to match the original album's art | |
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Beautiful Loser, less common than his next two albums on eight track |
Boston eight track tapes
Several of Boston's iconic spaceship-covered albums were released on eight track
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Boston's Don't Look Back on eight track |
Other "rock" eight track tapes
Some tapes from artists I only have a tape or two from
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Kansas' Leftoverature on a Columbia shrouded three-tab cartridge, featuring classic Carry On Wayward Son |
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Cheap Trick's live At Budokan album on eight track - I still remember exactly when and where I found this tape at a junky thrift store vacationing near a lake with my family |