Abbey Road, The Beatles. Rare Near Mint Condition 1969 First Press Apple Label .
£
72
$
95
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Description
Abbey Road, by The Beatles. PCS 7088 - STEREO. This LP is rare, because it is a 1969 First Pressing, in Near Mint condition, having been bought by myself in the autumn of 1969, shortly after release on September 26th and played once and then NEVER again! Note the spindle areas on both sides... no wear and that tell tale 'new' look to the label and the spindle hole and surrounds!
The Matrix No's are: (Side 1) YEX 749-2 (Side 2) YEX 750-1,with Stamper ID being: (Side 1) 4 – 602 (Side 2) 6- 602, these being translated from 4 PDR & 6 PDR respectively. There is a lot of nonsense spoken about ‘Mother Stampers’ and the 1 G being a first ever press and first of the run, but the reality was that every LP had many Stampers; the polished Positive Press, to create the negative vinyl disc and every Stamper was hewn from the same Original, so whilst you may have a No 1 Stamper and a No 1 pressed record, No 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 will be identical and often the first few pressed in any run were discarded, as the Stampers were not ‘warm’ and may have not been the best. Vinyl and its presses need warmth, as there is no additive to stop sticking! Another myth is that every LP had the same Stamper No and press run number; no, often Stamper 1 would be used for Side 1 and maybe Stamper 4 for side 2, and the run may be different, because the Stamper had been changed mid run. Having said that, this LP is actually a 'low' number, being only No 602 on Stampers 4 & 6.
But back to this lovely example, owned by me for 43 years and only played, as far as I can remember once! It does have 'Her Majesty' on the Apple label on Side 2 and of course it appears (as with all pressings) on the record, after 'The End' but there is no 'Her Majesty' credit on the sleeve. The addition of the credit on the Side 2 label was, apparently, added during the pre-release period alongside 'The End'. Once again, the myth surrounding the 'missing' part of the record's information and the desire to create rarity does not alter the fact that every copy of Abbey Road came without the credit on the sleeve! Errors often happened and oddly some were left.
What sets this desirable record apart from hundreds of thousands of others is that it was purchased in 1969 and has not been played, loaned out, written on (we used to do that to stop other people claiming it at a party!) or even moved from its secure storage for all those years. And I bought it! The vinyl is in near mint condition and has that fantastic mirror-like, deep black vinyl sheen, from the lacquer, which is so deep you can see your own reflection in it! The sleeve, both front and rear, is in marvellous condition; unstained, with no age yellowing and un-marked, with just the feint circular press-through-look, where the 12'' round disc has sat within. It has the original, but plain and somewhat boring, EMI white sleeve, but, this, too, is original and non-yellowed.
This album is a time-warp and the ''One Owner From New'' and ''Zero Mileage'' is due to the fact that I was too young to appreciate the movement by The Beatles into serious progressive music and away from their very early days of ‘pop’. So for me the Please, Please Me & With The Beatles were played and this just stored away and left un-played, but not unloved!
Oh and finally me? Why do I know so much about pressing and coding of the vinyl etc? Unlike many who deal or trade, I worked within the industry as a sound engineer and a producer for a number of years in the late 80's through to mid 90's at Ayr, Molyneux, The Bridge, Silk, Redwood and Angel, to name but a few and I was an analogue engineer/producer! I have always owned and listened to vinyl and although I made the transition to digital, I still believe that when a record was made way back when, we recorded in a way that vinyl truly reflects. It is as simple as the fact that original mono recordings will always sound better as just that; mono. So vinyl is best on vinyl and don’t be fooled into thinking that a digital re-master of an original analogue recording is going to be better... it ‘aint! Good luck with your bidding and look after the LP!
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