The Beatles – Please Please Me- Black/Gold Stereo LP

	£		2,272
	$		3,010

On Parlophone PCS 3042 , a highly sort after album and regarded by most as the

holy grail as far as Beatles records are concerned.

This  stereo version on the early black and gold label is particularly rare as there

were comparatively few copies pressed , unlike the mono version. This was

presumably because stereo records were not so much in demand at the time.

THE SLEEVE – The front laminated flipback sleeve is VG  , has lots of

storage / usage wear , laminate creasing on the front , some soiling and a little

fading on the rear , a worn spine , a seam split along the bottom edge and a

taped repair to the bottom edge flap.

THE INNER SLEEVE – The original EMITEX lined inner has seam splits and has

taped repairs.

THE LABELS – The record labels are VG , are perfectly readable but side 1 has

some sticker residue and side 2 has a name written on it , although this is in black

pen on a black background and is barely noticeable. Both sides carry the

Dick James credits on some of McCartney/Lennon compositions, some of which

were corrected to Northern Songs on subsequent issues.

THE VINYL – The vinyl sits nice and flat on the turntable , has stamped matrices

YEX 94-1 and YEX 95-1 . I would grade it as VG , there are marks and scuffs

consistent with a 60 year old used record ; side 1 has a large , careless scuff mark

which is a little unsightly but is really not serious , it is superficial and is not deep and

not feelable, and does not sound on play. Side 2 has a lot of whispy hairlines which ,

again, do not affect play.

PLAY GRADE – There is feeling amongst a lot of record collectors that with a record

such as this, ownership is of more importance than sound quality , but for the benefit

of those to whom the listening experience is important then here is my assessment .

The record plays right through remarkably well considering it's age , with minimal

background noise or static, and there are no skips or jumps that I can detect. Despite

having graded the disc as VG , I would grade playback as VG++ , if not better.

On Parlophone PCS 3042 , a highly sort after album and regarded by most as the

holy grail as far as Beatles records are concerned.

This  stereo version on the early black and gold label is particularly rare as there

were comparatively few copies pressed , unlike the mono version. This was

presumably because stereo records were not so much in demand at the time.

THE SLEEVE – The front laminated flipback sleeve is VG  , has lots of

storage / usage wear , laminate creasing on the front , some soiling and a little

fading on the rear , a worn spine , a seam split along the bottom edge and a

taped repair to the bottom edge flap.

THE INNER SLEEVE – The original EMITEX lined inner has seam splits and has

taped repairs.

THE LABELS – The record labels are VG , are perfectly readable but side 1 has

some sticker residue and side 2 has a name written on it , although this is in black

pen on a black background and is barely noticeable. Both sides carry the

Dick James credits on some of McCartney/Lennon compositions, some of which

were corrected to Northern Songs on subsequent issues.

THE VINYL – The vinyl sits nice and flat on the turntable , has stamped matrices

YEX 94-1 and YEX 95-1 . I would grade it as VG , there are marks and scuffs

consistent with a 60 year old used record ; side 1 has a large , careless scuff mark

which is a little unsightly but is really not serious , it is superficial and is not deep and

not feelable, and does not sound on play. Side 2 has a lot of whispy hairlines which ,

again, do not affect play.

PLAY GRADE – There is feeling amongst a lot of record collectors that with a record

such as this, ownership is of more importance than sound quality , but for the benefit

of those to whom the listening experience is important then here is my assessment .

The record plays right through remarkably well considering it's age , with minimal

background noise or static, and there are no skips or jumps that I can detect. Despite

having graded the disc as VG , I would grade playback as VG++ , if not better. Stamper code

1 R  1 G