Beatles Paul McCartney Venus & Mars Rock Show VERY RARE TEST PRESSING RECORD

$

88

In this auction is another RARE ONE from my own collection:

·       “VENUS AND MARS ROCK SHOW” by Paul McCartney & Wings

·       This is a CAPITOL RECORDS TEST PRESSING for what would be CAPITOL RECORDS 4175, the catalog number for this single.

·       This VERY RARE TEST PRESSING has WHITE LABELS with PRINTED and WRITTEN INFORMATION on the labels.

·       The Price Guide for the Beatles American Records by Perry Cox and Frank Daniels contains the following information about test pressings on page 10:

“Prior to the start of a production run, a few test copies of the record are pressed. These are sent to the record company for review. Once approval is received, the factories begin pressing the records. Because test pressings are often made prior to the labels being printed, they often have blank white labels with handwritten information. They should not be confused with promotional discs, which are manufactured in greater numbers after approval of the test pressing.”

“Because test pressings are scarcer than promotional discs and commercial copies of the record, they sell for a premium. Value is determined not only by scarcity, but also by the desirability of the title.”

·       The 45 RPM single “Venus And Mars/Rock Show” b/w “Magneto And Titanium Man” was commercially released as Capitol Records 4175 on October 27, 1975.

·       “Venus And Mars/Rock Show” is actually a medley of two songs written by Paul and Linda McCartney.

·       The single version is much shorter than the album version of the songs. “Rock Show” is cut by more than 3 minutes and “Venus and Mars” is only cut by a few seconds.

·       The song peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U.S., but it did not chart on the U.K. singles chart making it the first McCartney-penned single to do so.

·       There is the following PRINTED INFORMATION on BOTH LABELS:

 “?1975 McCartney Music, Inc.”

And

“Available only to technical and other

authorized personnel for the limited

purposes of testing and review. NOT

TO BE PUBLICALLY PERFORMED,

REPRODUCED, SOLD OR

OTHERWISE

DISTRIBUTED.”

·       One label has the following HANDWRITTEN INFORMATION:

On one label in black ink is:

“Venus + Mars Rock Show”

 “Paul McCartney”

“Wings”

“S”

(to designate Stereo)

“:24”

(to designate the Intro Play Time)

“3:40”

(to designate the Play Time)

NOTE: It appears that the technician who was labeling this test record made an error in the song title by starting to write the title “Rock +”, scratched it out, and then wrote the correct song title “Venus + Mars Rock Show”.

There is ONLY PRINTED INFORMATION on the label on the other side. There is NO written information.

·       “MASTERED BY CAPITOL” is pressed into the trail-off on one side.

·       The VINYL is in NEAR MINT MINUS CONDITION with just a few very light surface hairlines/scuffs.   

·       The LABELS are QUITE CLEAN and WHITE.

·       This TEST PRESSING RECORD comes in a Capitol Records stock sleeve that is in VG+ Condition, but I don’t know if this is the correct type of Capitol sleeve used in 1975.

A VERY RARE TEST PRESSING of a GREAT PAUL McCARTNEY & WINGS TUNE from the “Venus And Mars” LP for someone’s vinyl or Beatles collection!!!

Thanks to the Price Guide for the Beatles American Records by Perry Cox and Frank Daniels for information about this record.

FYI: I used the COVER/SLEEVE GRADES and RECORD GRADES listed and described on page 8 of the Price Guide for the Beatles American Records. These are Poor (PR), Fair (FR), Good Minus (G-), Good (G), Good Plus (G+), Very Good Minus (VG-), Very Good (VG), Very Good+ (VG+), Near Mint Minus or Very Good++ (NM- or VG++), Near Mint (NM), Mint Minus (M-), and Mint (M or MT) to VISUALLY grade this LP, so please know the descriptions of these grades before bidding. Please ask any questions BEFORE bidding. And please check my other auctions for more items you may want to add to your collection. Be high bidder on several and combine shipping on auction items that finish the same weekend. Winning bidder must remit payment within 5 days of auction close by PayPal. Add $3.50 for shipping to a U.S. address via media mail with tracking.