In this auction is probably what I d have to call ONE OF THE RAREST PIECES OF BEATLES I ve ever listed and definitely the RAREST VERSION of THE BEATLES WHITE ALBUM 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 also been referred to as the record that George Harrison didn t want the public to hear . It is a record so rare that there are literally only a handful of confirmed copies ever uncovered thus far.
I ve been very fortunate to have found 3 copies of this very rare pressing since 2007 when I learned of its existence via Perry Cox s and Frank Daniels book Price Guide for the Beatles American Records, 6th Edition . One copy was among the numerous copies of the White Album I had in my collection. The other 2 copies I found browsing through records at Record Shows in my area. I put one of these copies for auction on Ebay in October of last year. Now it s time to let a second copy go to another collector of rare Beatles vinyl.
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 is a DOUBLE VINYL LP.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, B29 A28 A28 A28, 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- A28
Side 3: SWBO-3-101- A28
Side 4: SWBO-4-101- A28
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 Apple Records SWBO - 101 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.
In addition, 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 masters 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 double 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. I understand that only several 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
RACOON in ROCKY RACOON WAS ALWAYS MISSPELLED as RACOON UNTIL THE 1980 s WHEN IT WAS CORRECTED to RACCOON .
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 GATE-FOLD COVER is in VG CONDITION OVERALL. It is numbered 0211919. The BEATLES is embossed on the front cover. There is no copyright notice printed inside the gate-fold cover. The cover has moderate overall aging/foxing and light to moderate soiling that includes some partial-circular stains on the front where the cover was once used as a coaster for a glass , several small stains on the rear at the opening, at the bottom and near the spine. There are small pushes and some balding on four corners. The top and bottom seams have some moderate wear and flaking. The top seam of the first vinyl pocket also has a nicely repaired 6-inch split and 1 inch split on the bottom seam at the opening. Inside the gate-fold cover, FW is written in green marker under the B W photos of each of The Beatles.
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 0211919, may not be 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 considered a first-run cover.
HOWEVER, another knowledgeable Beatles vinyl collector I know also told me that a compressed vinyl s cover is not limited to having only 4 or 5 numbers printed on the front cover. He said that covers were produced and shipped to the various Capitol pressing plants therefore, covers with greater than 4 or 5 numbers were most likely used for these compressed vinyl first pressings as well as for the subsequent first-run pressings of Capitol s re-engineered pressing produced with the assistance of George Harrison.
The VINYL is in VG to VG- VG MINUS CONDITION depending on the side. There are a number of VERY LIGHT and SMALL SURFACE scratches/hairlines/scuffs/rubs, but NONE OF THESE ARE FEEL-ABLE AT ALL. The VINYL has LOTS OF GLOSS. The LABELS are NICE and CLEAN without any wear, tears, writing or damages at all as you can see in the images.
This LP comes with the FOUR GLOSSY COLOR PHOTOS one of each of The Beatles 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. THREE of the GLOSSY PHOTOS are in EXCELLENT/NEAR MINT CONDITION with VERY LIGHT signs of handling however, the photo of Ringo is only in GOOD CONDITION, with numerous light to moderate diagonal creases on the lower half of the photo.
The LP in this auction 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 THIN ORANGE PAPER that looks like it has faded some over time .
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 issue of the posters changed this credit. Therefore, this is the correct poster for this first issue of the LP. The GLOSSY POSTER photo side is glossy and the reverse is not is in EXCELLENT CONDITION OVERALL with just minor signs of handling and a very small stain at the top center edge on the glossy photos side. There are NO tears, NO splits at the fold junctions pressure points and NO writing on it.
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 RARE 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 Beatles and related 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 7.00 for shipping to a U.S. address via USPS Media Mail with tracking. Expedited Shipping is available at additional cost.
