Beatles Please Please Me UK Mono Black and Gold Label

$

1,202

This is a very early mono 1st pressing of the Beatles UK 1963 debut LP, the black and gold label Please Please Me, Parlophone PMC 1202. The black and gold Please Please Me was available for only a month or two after its initial release and who knows how many have survived. I would guess not many in this condition. Most of the early pressings of this classic were played to death and ended up trashed. Not this one. It is in beautiful condition and it plays even better than it looks. To give you as much information as possible about the condition of this LP I have graded it both visually and sonically.

Side 1:
The matrix number is XEX 421-1N. The mother is 1 and the stamper is L. With this stamper letter, this LP has to be among the first 2500 pressed. Visually, Side 1 is EX with full gloss . It has one small surface scuff and a few light hairline marks, none of which affect the sound. Sonically, it plays very near to mint. There is no surface noise or distortion evident with the music. The vinyl of the run-in, run-out, and between songs is equally quiet with no surface noise. Side 1 plays very near to mint.

Side 2:
The matrix number is XEX 422-1N. The mother is 1 and the stamper is GG. Visually, Side 2 is EX with full gloss. It has a few light surface scuffs and hairline marks and shows slightly more wear than Side 1 but plays near mint. The vinyl on these black and gold pressings is very thick and a scratch or scuff has to be quite deep to affect the sound. As with Side 1 there is no surface noise or distortion evident with the music. The vinyl of the run-in, run-out, and between songs is equally quiet with no surface noise. Of the 7 songs on this side, only the 4th song, 'Do You Want to Know a Secret' has a few light clicks on it, and I'm being quite critical here. Sonically, the song would grade EX+ while the other 6 songs would grade near mint.

The sound of this LP is as clean and clear as only these early pressings can be. It is like being in the studio with the Beatles. Simply awesome. This pressing is one of those unusual and semi-rare Parlophone pressings that have no tax code stamped into either side.

The jacket was printed by Ernest J. Day & Co. and is a very nice EX+. The colors are sharp and bright with no fading. There is no hint of ring wear anywhere on this jacket, and no seam splits or tears. There is a very light crease in the laminate in the upper right corner on the front and a very, very light and small pencil mark 3 in the upper right corner on the reverse side. This is so small and light it is barely noticeable. The flipback seams are intact and clean.

I use strict grading standards from two record collector publications that use virtually identical grading standards; the UK publication Record Collector and the US publication Discoveries. If you have any questions, please send me an e-mail. Buyer to pay costs of shipping and insurance. Check out my other Beatles UK LPs on Ebay.