Beatles White Album Extremely Rare True First Pressing Apple Compressed Lp

In this auction is probably what I d have to call the most ULTRA-RARE piece of Beatles vinyl I ve ever listed and definitely the RAREST VERSION of THE BEATLES WHITE ALBUM ever known to exist In fact, no copies of this extremely rare pressing were known to exist prior to 2007. It has been referred to by several names: The TRUE First Pressing of the White Album , The Lost Harrison Compressed White Album and simply The Compressed White Album . This has been called the record that George Harrison didn t want the public to hear. It is a record so rare that there are less then literally a handful of confirmed copies ever uncovered thus far.

Here is the information about the EXTREMELY RARE LP In this auction:

THE BEATLES aka THE WHITE ALBUM by The Beatles

This is Apple Records SWBO - 101 in STEREO

It was released November 25, 1968.

THIS IS THE EXTREMELY RARE COMPRESSED VERSION. The Price Guide for the Beatles American Records,6th Ed. identifies this very rare pressing as APP 101.SR1 c X

It is identified by having lacquer numbers in the trail off area ending in numbers LESS than 34.

It is a TRUE FIRST RUN ISSUE originally mastered from A28/B29 Lacquers with the following numbers, A28 B28 A28 B29, etched in the trail-off areas. I have included images of the etched lacquer numbers for each side. Those lacquer numbers are matched to the sides of the LP and highlighted in RED below:

Side 1: SWBO-1-101- A28

Side 2: SWBO-2-101- B28

Side 3: SWBO-3-101- A28

Side 4: SWBO-4-101- B29

The VINYL was PRESSED at CAPITOL S SCRANTON PLANT with the triangle stamped into the trail-off on all four sides. The original plates were used to press this record, BEFORE Capitol Records recalled mother plates 01 33 from its pressing plants to be destroyed.

I ll try to provide a brief version of the STORY behind The TRUE First Pressing of the White Album , The Lost Harrison Compressed White Album or The Compressed White Album . However, I would encourage you to read the FULL and COMPLETE STORY with all of the details online.

George Harrison and Mal Evans, the Beatles road manager and personal assistant, made a trip to Los Angeles in mid-October, 1968 just prior to the release of The Beatles self-titled double-vinyl LP aka The White Album .

According to Bruce Spizer in his book, The Beatles White Album and the Launch of Apple page 109 , while at the Capitol Records Tower, George listened to Capitol s mastering of the new Beatles double-LP and was very distressed and disappointed by its sound, complaining that the volume range had been compressed by cutting back the high peaks and bringing up the low passages . Capitol s engineers had apparently used a technical process that altered half the effects. George insisted that the album be totally remastered and that he be allowed to work with Capitol s engineers to supervise the remastering of the album himself to sound like he and the other Beatles had intended it to sound.

As a result, George insisted that all 33 lacquers, the first set of lacquers that Capitol Records used to press the vinyl, be immediately destroyed along with any records that may have already been pressed from those lacquers. HOWEVER, a few copies of the rejected album pressed using Capitol s compressed master were mistakenly NOT destroyed and had already been shipped out. THE LP IN THIS AUCTION IS ONE OF THEM

Harrison s remastered version is found on standard copies of the LP we have today which have lacquer numbers 34 or higher. Ken Mansfield, a Capitol A R man who was given the job of being Apple s first U.S. manager, confirms Harrison s remastering of the album in his book, The White Book.

Perry Cox s and Frank Daniels 2007 book Price Guide for the Beatles American Records,6th Edition states at that time 2007 only one copy, which is a VG- condition Scranton pressing with lacquer numbers A-28 and B-29, has been confirmed though there are undoubtedly others out there. And, in fact, I understand that only a few more copies have been found since that book s 2007 publication date.

The 2 vinyl records have APPLE LABELS with the CAPITOL LOGO in the perimeter print of the sliced-Apple labels. They are the FIRST LABEL VARIATIONS with the following song title errors on the labels:

BUNGALOW BILL , INSTEAD OF THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL .

REVOLUTION NO. 1 INSTEAD OF REVOLUTION 1

REVOLUTION NO. 9 , INSTEAD OF REVOLUTION 9

OBLADI OBLADA INSTEAD OF OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA

GOODNIGHT INSTEAD OF GOOD NIGHT

ROCKY RACCOON WAS ALWAYS MISSPELLED as RACOON UNTIL THE 1980 s

WHY DON T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD without the question mark ?
NOTE: I ve heard that this Error, without the question mark, is the rarest of all 7 errors.

The COVER is in VERY STRONG VG CONDITION. It is numbered 0587455. The BEATLES is embossed on the front cover. There is no copyright notice printed on the cover. The cover is NICE, CLEAN and GLOSSY. There are NO tears, NO writing, NO creases, NO ring wear, NO soiling, NO cracking, NO flaking and NO seam splits. There is some VERY LIGHT AGING/FOXING around the edges of the cover. There are two small and light/faded partial stains: one is on the top edge of the front cover about 3 inches from the opening and the other is on the top edge of the rear cover about 4 -inches from the opening. There are also a couple of VERY TINY corner pushes .

I read somewhere that of the Compressed Beatles White Albums known to exist, all have a number printed on the cover that has only 4 or 5 digits, since it s an EARLY first-run cover. Any higher numbers then 5 digits, would probably indicate that the original numbered cover was switched out, and replaced with a higher-numbered cover. Therefore, if this information is true, the cover in this auction numbered 0587455, is possibly not the original cover for the vinyl. According to Cox/Daniels, first-run covers have numbers less than 2,250,000, so the cover in this auction is still a first-run cover.

The VINYL is in NICE VG CONDITION with a number of VERY LIGHT and SMALL surface scratches/hairlines/scuffs/rubs. NONE OF THESE ARE FEEL-ABLE AT ALL. The VINYL is VERY GLOSSY. The LABELS are NICE and CLEAN without any wear or damages at all.

This LP comes with the FOUR GLOSSY COLOR PHOTOS one of each Beatle on heavier stock paper. Printed in USA is in the lower left margin. According to Perry Cox, photos printed before December 12, 1968 have Printed in USA in the margins. Therefore, these are the correct photos for this issue of the LP. The GLOSSY PHOTOS are in EXCELLENT CONDITION with VERY LIGHT signs of handling.

This LP also comes with a COLORED SEPARATOR SHEET that was not intended to be included with the LP and its photos. I assume this sheet was to separate the 4 photos from the poster . Separator Sheets were made of:

Thin Pink Paper

Glossy White Paper

Thick Yellow Paper

Thin Orange Paper

Thick Blue Paper

Thin Blue Paper

The SEPARATOR SHEET included in this auction is GLOSSY WHITE PAPER.

This LP also comes with the COLOR POSTER with LYRICS PRINTED ON THE REVERSE. According to Cox Daniels, the first issue poster, like the poster in this auction, has a credit that has the copyright symbol followed by Apple Records . Second and later posters changed this credit. Therefore, this is the correct poster for this first issue of the LP. The GLOSSY POSTER is in EXCELLENT CONDITION with just light and minor signs of handling. There are NO tears, NO splits at the fold junctions pressure points , NO writing and NO soiling.

Here is your opportunity to own a VERY RARE LP, a piece of Beatles recording history not often seen or offered for sale anywhere. With so few known to exist, you may never see one of these come available again in a long, long time. AND THERE IS NO RESERVE SET ON THIS LP

SO, DON T MISS OUT ON OWNING THIS VERY UNIQUE PIECE OF BEATLES RECORDING HISTORY

Thanks to the Price Guide for the Beatles American Records, 6th Ed. by Perry Cox and Frank Daniels for providing identifying information about this LP and its inserts.

FYI: I use the COVER/SLEEVE GRADES and RECORD GRADES listed and described on page 8 of the Price Guide for the Beatles American Records, 6th Ed. for grading. These grades are Poor P , Fair F , 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 vinyl you may want to add to your collection. Be high bidder on several and combine shipping on auction items that finish the same day. NOTE: If more than 1 item is won by the same bidder, please do NOT make payment until I send an invoice with combined shipping cost. Winning bidder must remit payment within 5 days of auction close. Add 6.00 for shipping to a U.S. address via USPS Media Mail with tracking. Expedited Shipping is available at additional cost.

Additional info: I was contacted by another Ebay member who has 2 copies of the Compressed White Album. One of them has a 7-digit number on the front cover and the other has a 7-digit number preceded by an A . He states that contrary to what some people say, the covers were printed in separate facilities than where the vinyl was pressed. So, the compressed LP in this auction could, in fact, have the valid/correct compressed album cover with different serial numbers on the it.