THE BEATLES
PLEASE PLEASE ME BLACK GOLD
1963 2nd Pressing
1st Press Matrices 1N/ 1N
Format: Mono
This is the ultra-rare 2nd pressing of Please Please Me. The general consensus is that around 25,000 of the Black Gold 1st pressings with incorrect Dick James Mus. Co. credits on four of the tracks were pressed, and when the error was identified around 12,000 of these corrected Northern Songs credits were pressed - before the changeover was made to the new yellow and black Parlophone labels.
The pressing run for Black Gold Parlophone labels was short-lived lasting only a couple of months starting on 22nd March 1963. You ll see several Dick James 1st pressings which are also rare, before you see one of these 2nd pressings.
Sleeve:
The sleeve is in Excellent Minus condition. It is still sturdy and strong and holds the record securely. There are just a few laminate creases and soft corner wear and a little creasing to the fold-overs on the rear. Crucially the spine is completely intact with readable title text, it has straight unblemished edges, no splits, no writing/ writing imprints. Still very clean and glossy.
Inner Sleeve: Original thick paper rather than thin paper EMI poly-lined inner completely intact.
The Vinyl: Strictly graded as Very Good condition. There is nothing visible that detracts from the jet black pressing shine - but it does have quite a lot of superficial hairlines - sweeping over the surface. There is nothing to be called a scratch, and there are no marks or scuffs or dinks/ needle drops as you will often find. Certainly nothing to cause discernible deterioration of the audio. It is a heavy-weight slab of vinyl that lies completely flat on the turntable.
The Labels: Very Good Plus condition. A little light wear to the spindle perimeter and a couple of scuff spots on Side 1 near the circumference. There are no spindle lines and no writing etc. The gold typeface is virtually unblemished and still shines out against the black background.
The Audio: Plays smoothly from start to finish on each side with warm mono bass and clear and lucid detail. No interruption or any defects that would cause any discernible destraction to the powerful audio. No skips, no jumps, no pops and no sticks.These solid early sixties vinyl pressings always tend to play better than the appearance might portray, and they were made to sustain frequent play. I did notice a fair few audible ticks on some of the tracks and lead-in s. The intro s and fade-out s are mostly very quiet. It will still sustain decades of frequent careful use, and I would describe the audio as Excellent Minus.
Mother Stampers:
Side 1: 2 GH
Side 1 M
This a very early pressing for a 2nd Press Black Gold as can be deduced from these codes.
A piece of music history which is getting harder and harder to find
Included are two ORIGINAL Beatles Xmas fan-club inserts from the 7 records.
One from 1966 and one from 1968.
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Will be packaged in an LP mailer.
The vinyl will be contained within a new generic inner sleeve with the original placed separately.
The sleeve will be contained within a high standard plastic sleeve.
Graded in accordance with the Record Collector Grading System
