BEATLES For Sale UK Rare Y&B Stereo. STUNNING N/M COPY

	£		80
	$		106

 this is part of my fabulous beatles collection, please see my other auctions for more rarities

Artist or Band: THE BEATLES

Album Title: Beatles For Sale.

Track Listing: No Reply; I’m a Loser; Baby’s in Black; Rock and Roll Music; I’ll Follow the Sun; Mr Moonlight; Kansas City; Eight Days a Week; Words of Love; Honey Don’t; Every Little Thing; I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party; What You’re Doing; Everybody’s Trying to be My Baby.

Label/Format: Parlophone (Original yellow, black and silver format) This is a second rare stereo press with all the relevant details on the labels e.g. ‘Sold in UK Subject to Resale Price Conditions, See price Lists’ and ‘The Parlophone Co Ltd’ etc on the circumference. EXCLUDES ‘Recording first published 1964’ this was only on the first pressing. This copy has no Tax Codes.

Label Condition: A near perfect pair bar one small chip on side two near the centre hole, it can be clearly seen (let’s be honest now, how many would have been tempted to fill this in with a black felt tip? – no way, what discerning Beatles fan would be fooled by this? – none). What you see is what you get with Oneadayrecords. I feel this is a manufacture blemish because this record is so clearly hardly been played and all else is immaculate. To see a vintage pressed Beatles stereo record with so few spindle marks and other signs of wear is truly a pleasure. We all know by now most early Beatles albums were played into submission so how unusual to see the record and its labels looking somewhere close to new – this pair are really exceptional. (Please see label scans for all information needed, I hope the details and brilliance of these shows up on the scans).

Cat Number: PCS 3062.

Mono or Stereo: Stereo (This was issued in mono also).

Country of Manufacture: Gt Britain.

Rarity: This early stereo copy is very scarce. Always a subject for debate: I have always stated and continue to do so ‘Beatles albums are not rare’ they sold in huge numbers and cannot ever be considered rare in terms of numbers and copies around - but… Beatles albums, especially the older, early pressings and in particular the mono versions in clean, lightly played condition ARE rare, make no mistake about that. Any of the early stereo albums and most up to around to Sgt Pepper in stereo are scarce. These albums, probably more than any other band on the planet were often played into submission, trashed and worn into an unplayable state. Simply look at Beatles items on offer a record fayres, always plenty there, always plenty of worn out or scratched records with filthy dirty and tatty covers. When lightly played, clean looking copies with beautiful fresh covers turn up they are very much the exception to the rule - these are priceless and getting very hard to find now - available copies seem to be at a premium, simply being kept as investments or simply to important to sell. Early copies suffered the most, the crude, heavy armed decks with massive thick, often chipped sapphire stylii were ruthless to the delicate grooves imposing wear quickly and making the records noisy with distortion and crackle. (Please see my paragraph further down to put a clean copy like this one into true perspective).

Original Year of Release: 1964, this second pressing was issued in 1965

Matrix Nos: YEX 142-1 and YEX 143-1 The stamper codes are: 3L / 1AP

Brief Artist & Album Info: No long history lessons here, any interested collector wants to know the quality and conditions on offer not a lecture. We all know how important The Beatles were and their importance to the development of popular music. For Sale was their fourth album and probably the most underrated, never could really understand why this is. This is a very early,. and scarce stereo copy with all the criteria matched for an early second pressing. My regulars often ask me to list more Beatles albums, I could easily pile on low quality inferior worn out copies, these are all too easy to find, but sorry NO WAY! - I only sell Beatles albums that can be justified in being offered, copies that look and sound real nice with a high standard of fidelity - in others words, a copy that can be enjoyed with a high degree of confidence and satisfaction. This vintage album, approaching 40 years old now - scary eh? - is one of the best looking stereo pressings I have ever had, the album simply defies its age for looks and sound quality. The cover is highly respectable and it is probably the most fragile one in the Beatles catalogue. It even has its very fragile tracing paper type inner, even this is exceptional, clean and untorn with the incredibly frail paper lining near perfect and clear. If any collector needs this classic album in wonderful real stereo, then you could do far worse that this copy, I would conservatively estimate that copy has been played around 3 to 5 times most, including once by me for grading of course. In terms of Beatles albums this age its barely scratched the surface (no cheap pun intented) and as a follow up to that: I can barely see a significant mark on this record, let alone a scratch. I doubt if this copy has seen a deck since the 60s ended until it make it to me.

Cover Grade and Format: EX+, I think this is justified for a very fragile sleeve this great age, they will not appear much better than this realistically. Its a gatefold format with the front flap being only single ply thickness card and very fragile and prone to bending and creasing – this indeed has some low level creases, if indeed it had not, this would easily be in the Mint class. It has a laminated front and back but not the centrefold. It has the required outline stereo on the front top right corner, so this cannot be easily substituted for other (probably later made) covers, there simply are not that many stereo versions around. The Use New Emitex advertisement inside too.

Lamination: Even with some front creasing, that does not show up too much this is still superb!, clean with rich deep shine, any dulling is miniscule and barely any can be seen even with close scrutiny. The creasing is not deep and unsightly, infact it shows up not too much and truly does not detract that much either, so much so it has barely registered on the other (inner) side. The back remains totally crease-free. No peeling and or dry areas at all. No indentations, even surface marks are totally absent too - this vintage laminate is still light years ahead of many if not most.

Cover Front: Simply superb, this is clean and unworn and retains a freshness most covers can only dream of this age. Deep, rich colour under that strong laminate - look at the picture, it does not lie - what you see is what you get, and this is close to perfection. The creasing is light enough for my camera not to see but I have clearly stated some mild creasing is present.

Cover Back: Fantastic again, just the same top quality of the front. I suppose, being hyper-critical a faint pressmark can just be seen if viewed under angled light but let’s be honest how many wont? This record is thick and heavy and I think any faint mark on the back will never be less invisible than here.

Cover Inner Gatefold: Pretty much close to perfect, and again that’s no mean achievement for this one. Most will know the record is stored and enters via the right inner centrefold - not the usual right hand outer edge. This always puts huge pressure on the centrefold line and the inner pouch top and bottom - its more often than not found torn or split and the inner spine area suffers accordingly - NOT HERE - this has taken no wear or abuse at all, proving yet again how few times this record has left its sleeve. Exceptional to fine this centrefold this fine.

Top Edge: Unworn.

Bottom Edge: Virtually unworn, the thin front flap edges are clean and sharp with minimal hints of any fraying, again so unusual to see - this always gives this cover a much more cleaner look and separates the ordinary from the exceptional. One tiny rub near the right corner.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, sharp with no wear, even the thin front - magnificent. Record enters the sleeve as explained above. Only rarely have I seen this edge devoid of feathering.

Spine and Text: A superb thick and ‘chunky’ spine that has great shape and definition. The spine text is pristine perfect under the uncracked laminate.

Corners: All corners incredibly are near perfect, a very faint hint of minor fraying on the very ends of the delicate opening corners but this is being ultra-critical and try finding one minus this minor wear trace.

Cover Summary: Probably one the best For Sale covers yet, certainly stereo examples are scarcely seen and please do not be put off by the low impact (on the eye) creasing, because it really does not notice that much anyway. Its a credit to the owner to look after an album this well for so long in real terms.

Inner: EX++, tracing paper type, unsplit and clean. Use Emitex cleaning cloth to preserve your microgroove records etc. and warning about worn stylus etc. Only very mild age discolour with only minor ruffling and no real creasing as such, again like most of this set, exceptional and very important to this record.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Mint(-), and visually close to full Mint because I see barely a mark at all. A stunning visual copy that sets the standard. Super clean, shiny, jet black and very heavily pressed with deep vintage grooves.This looks really lovely and rarely do these show up like this – and there lies the difference. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence. Visually a super Beatles record that should please all collectors.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This super record plays up to its high visual grading for most parts with little to fault. Like virtually all Beatles albums, there is always at least one ‘difficult’ track that always seems to give some distortion problems unless you can find unplayed copies (mmmm). On Rubber Soul its ‘Michelle’, on Revolver its ‘In My Life’, on Sgt Pepper its ‘She’s Leaving Home’ and ‘A Day in the Life’, on Help! its ‘Yesterday’, on With the Beatles its ‘Money’ - on this For Sale its ‘Mr Moonlight’ - I can only assume the groove patterns on these tracks were such they clipped and damaged more easily along with the fact they are tracks nearer the centre which is explained below too. On this copy ‘Mr Moonlight’ plays as near perfect as all the other songs with clean, dynamic and detailed real stereo sound with any other distortion or sound degrading being virtually nil - proof again indeed this has hardly been played. No pops or clicks noted and any surface sound is minimal to none, virtually all of this album plays quiet with stunning detailed stereo sound that images incredibly well, another flawless George Martin production. My deck is very revealing and takes no prisoners, I found this one a super listen and my feet and head were tapping and nodding as I tapped out another advert. Never take a fine copy like this for granted, just compare to some others - it makes a real nice change to hear an early stereo pressing as monos are almost the normal on offer these days. This copy will easily last another 40 years if looked after the way it clearly has been so far. This I feel will never need to be upgraded, unless that unplayed copy ever shows (mmmmmmm) or a near faultless first pressing can be found – but why bother, they will both sound the same.

Mono vs Stereo, an overview: Always a matter of opinion which is better or more important. For any serious collector where there is a choice e.g. Beatles, Stones, Hendrix etc. both are essential. True Stereo albums give great imagery and presence whereas mono albums usually are more dynamic, louder and present the detail more clearly. Mono albums are far harder to find in genuinely top playing condition. Most were heavily played, particularly the truly great bands and artists, often covered in mark and scratches, many severe and labels that were a mass of spindle marks. The majority were played on vintage and unsubtle decks with heavy tonearms and thick styli (often sapphire, not diamond, that chipped more easily) that rendered heavy wear in a very short time to many a fine classic record. Wear to the delicate groove walls, particularly the innermost tracks to the labels were most vulnerable where the tracking angle became more severe and the backdrag actually stripped the delicate groove walls. This resulted in surface noise and mild/moderate distortion or worse. These old decks tracked by sheer weight and little of any refined engineering. Next time you see such a deck at a local record fayre, feel the weight of the arm, it almost makes you wonder how any records survived at all. The point of this paragraph is emphasise that when a truly clean, lightly played and great sounding 60s mono album (or stereo come to that) is offered, treasure it, because for sure they are truly getting vary rare and precious - beware - demand only play-graded records. As a general guide to rarity, mono was the far more common format from 61–65; Around 66–67 the balance was roughly equal, then from 68-69 the balance swung more to stereo, making monos from these dates far scarcer, even rare - this guide is important and effects values greatly.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Final Summary: It’s a rare joy to find the real early pressings like this, although a second pressing it only came a very short time after the first - a copy that looks superb and plays to a very high standard - not quite the perfect cover, but still a very high standard and the actual record is pretty close to perfect. At close to 40 years old, was vinyl ever designed to last this long?, well the proof is here - Yes. I hope the winning bidder enjoys this as much as it deserves, it should please most collectors and even the serious near perfectionist should even consider this fine copy – Mike.

Please Note: I will now offer any item to the runner-up after the mandatory Ebay 3 days if no contact is made by the winning bidder. The same applies if no payment is received within the mandatory 7 days so any bidder who has just lost out can still email me to reserve the item as priority second chance. Item wants are always welcome - email me with anything needed, you never know - I may just have a copy in stock. I by quality single items and collections also (Email me please if you have quality items for sale).