Beatles Rubber Soul **LOUD CUT** (579-1 / 580-1) EX

	£		43
	$		57

Title: RUBBER SOUL Artist: The Beatles Cat. No: PMC 1267 (MONO) Matrixes A/B: XEX 579-1 / XEX 580-1  (Real LOUD CUT) Label: Parlophone (Yellow and Black) Year: 1965 Notes: VERY rare ARIAL font on both sides of the label

EXCELLENT CONDITION VINYL, see below for details.

"Rubber Soul" by the Beatles, Mono PMC 1267 on Yellow/Black Parlophone labels. This is the rare very first press "Loud Cut" variation!! Before I list the details of this item, here's a bit of short background info about this very collectable record: (courtesy of www.beatlescollecting.co.uk)

"When Rubber Soul was first released back at the end of 1965, George Martin was not happy with the mixing that had been done to the songs because some of the songs distorted on cheaper record players causing a degrade in sound quality. After approximately 2 weeks, the record was momentarily paused production-wise while he slightly altered the mixes to remove this problem. When he had finished, the production was restarted as a 2nd pressing. The only way you can tell whether your copy is a 'loud-cut' pressing or not is to look at the matrix number. 'Loud-cut' pressings carry the matrix numbers XEX 579-1and XEX 580-1, while the regular copies carry a 4 instead of a 1."

Not only that, but the record you are bidding on has the even rarer "ARIAL" font face:

"'Loud' cut copies of the Rubber Soul album are hard enough to find, but the majority of them have the 'Times New Roman' font label style." (www.beatlescollecting.co.uk)

Very few copies of Rubber Soul were printed with the Arial font face on the labels, so this is a double rarity!!
This record has matrix numbers XEX 579-1 on side A, and XEX 580-1 on side B - making this item a true "loud cut" first press.

Sleeve: Condition is VG+. It's a good solid sleeve with no rips or tears, but the front does have creasing and some bends in it.

The following 2 links show this in clearer detail:
http://uk.geocities.com/pacey86@btinternet.com/RSLC_crease1.jpg
http://uk.geocities.com/pacey86@btinternet.com/RSLC_crease2.jpg
The back cover has the usual slight dirt around the flaps of the Garrod and Lofthouse sleeve, but overall is actually quite clean and white elsewhere. The spine is in great condition - only VERY slight flattening towards the edges, with the main part still solid.
http://uk.geocities.com/pacey86@btinternet.com/RSLC_back.jpg
http://uk.geocities.com/pacey86@btinternet.com/RSLC_side.jpg

The opening side of the sleeve is a little worn right at the edges, but again is nice and solid otherwise.

Inner Sleeve: Plain white inner with cellophane liner. VG+ condition. No tears, but has some creases on it. Isn't an Emitex one, but is as far as I can tell a genuine 1960's inner sleeve.
http://uk.geocities.com/pacey86@btinternet.com/RSLC_inner.jpg

Vinyl Labels: EX minus. There is some spindle wear, as you can see in the photos, but there's not much in the way of scratches or marks other than that. I'd be very reluctant to grade it down to VG as I do think it's a lower end EX!!

Vinyl Playing Surface: Visually, it's in Excellent condition.Has a very nice sheen on it, with a few light scuffs here and there. Unlikely to find a better looking visual copy of this album (taking into account the very rare Arial font face).
Listening to the vinyl over a normal hi-fi system I'd have no doubts grading it a good EX all round. But I always check vinyl over a good quality set of studio speakers also, in which case imperfections can be heard. A little distortion here and there on the very loud passages, but even still there's hardly any background noise or pops and crackles. Over a good audio system, I'd grade it as EX minus - again I believe it to be a low end EX rather than a high VG!!

Securely packaged in cruciform LP mailer with extra cardboard inside for protection. If you'd like further packing inside let me know and I'll see what I can do.
If winning bidder is NOT in the UK, contact me about postage costs - I'll keep them as low as I possibly can.

NOTE: If you decide to pay via Paypal, you will HAVE to pay the surcharge fee I'm afraid. CHEQUES are preferred if you're in the UK, but if the winning bidder is in a foreign country, I could make an exception to allow you to pay via Paypal without a surcharge - but this is likely to be dependant upon final sale value. Contact me about this if you have any questions.

Again, UK CHEQUES ARE PREFERRED!!!