Beatles 45 Strawberry Fields Flexi #18 The Very First Audio Issue w/ Mailer 1977

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Beatles 45 Strawberry Fields Flexi #18 The Very First Audio Issue w/ Mailer 1977

For those who collect the SFF newsletters and flexi-discs, this was the first issue to have included one.  Since these were pressed by a legitimate company, Evatone Soundsheets, who also pressed The Beatles’ U.S. Christmas flexi-discs, and since they all contain until-then unreleased Beatles and solo outtakes, these flexis occupy the space between boot and genuine releases.

Vinyl:  The flexi is on red vinyl, and it lays flat.  There is one moderate crease that does not cause the flexi to skip, but it does sound for several rotations before vanishing.  I can’t play-test at the minute, but to my memory, all of these soundsheets play with the same scratchiness as an acetate would, even when they look brand new.  Maybe a VPI would help?  Dunno.

Newsletter:  The one-page, double-sided newsletter is present, folded into quadrants and flat.  Faded a little, this page was a simple Xerox sent to members.  Really good condition.

Mailer:  The flap was torn unevenly, but apart from that, it is completely intact.  Upper left corner has a SFF return address label, and the upper right corner has a ten cent U.S. postage stamp.  Remember those?  Then you’re probably my age.

Flexi Contents:  According to my notes from 1986, there are “Insufferably bad and poorly delivered references to the original Beatles Christmas flexis, but after that, it’s pretty interesting.”

Side One:  Opens with an auction of a Butcher cover at a Beatles convention.  And it goes for surprisingly little, even for 1977 dollars.  There’s also an auction for a “Listen to This Bus” billboard-sized ad that was apparently stolen from a NY public trans bus.

Excerpts from the special guests, Jurgen Vollmer, who describes what The Beatles were like as people in Hamburg, Peter McCabe, who wrote the book, “Apple to the Core,” and Richard Di Lello, who was a hippie living at Apple, and who wrote a book called, “The Longest Cocktail Party,” about the final years of The Beatles and their breakup from an insider’s perspective.  He tells the story of Paul stealing a leather jacket from a fan.

And then there’s something backwards at the end of Side 1, but I seem not to have written down what it is.  Something cutesy-stupid, no doubt.

Side Two:  Looks a lot more interesting.  It says that there is a medley of excerpts from Paul and Wings, doing either a live show at a small venue, or live in the studio rehearsals.  Songs are “Call Me Back Again,” “Band on the Run,” “Live and Let Die” and “Hi Hi Hi.”  Not the released versions, it says here.

NOTE:  This thing weighs next to nothing, so if you win this by itself, shipping won’t be $3.82.  It’ll be far less.

Note:  All 45’s ship outside of their sleeves in order not to damage the sleeve during shipment. Generic plain, white sleeves and Mylar provided.

Please don’t bid unless you’re willing to honor your amount, okay? Thanks!

(Please note:  Regarding play-testing, my Technics turntable has somehow seized.  The tone arm is stuck in the up position, and I can’t get it to fully return to its cradle.  Is there anyone out there, who can tell me if this is an easy fix?  Thanks!) 

As these records have been in storage for many years, they will play back with crackling and tics, however; a good moisturizing and cleaning with either D4 Discwasher or a VPI machine always clears them up.  Thanks!)

Check out my other auctions for more hard-to-find vinyl!

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