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- B29

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:

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

2 REVOLUTION NO. 1 INSTEAD OF REVOLUTION 1

3 REVOLUTION NO. 9 , INSTEAD OF REVOLUTION 9

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

5 GOODNIGHT INSTEAD OF GOOD NIGHT

6 ROCKY RACCOON WAS ALWAYS MISSPELLED as RACOON UNTIL THE 1980 s

7 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 A0374027. 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, HARDLY LIGHT ring wear and I mean LIGHT, NO seam splits. There s a small one inch crease on the front as you can see in the picture.

CENTER inside has an ever so slight split. One tiny chip on the top and bottom seam as seen in the pictures.

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. TONS of pressing sheen left. Labels have LIGHT spindle wear.

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 NICE USED CONDITION with tack holes and light creases. Easily replaced

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 need of replacement and it s heavily worn with MULTIPLE splits to the poster.

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.

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.

Please note 587455 for the jacket number mid way through the item description is an ERROR on my part.

The jacket number IS A0374027