The Beatles. Abbey Road. Mis-Aligned Apple. First Press. Excellent Plus. Stereo.

	£		40
	$		53

THE BEATLES

ABBEY ROAD

RARE FIRST PRESSING WITH 'MIS-ALIGNED APPLE' ERROR SLEEVE

EXCELLENT PLUS-PLUS CONDITION

1969 DARK GREEN APPLE LABEL

PAS10004

PCS 7088 STEREO SIDE ONE YEX 749 - 2 SIDE TWO YEX 750 - 1

A Superb Example - Vinyl in Excellent Plus-Plus Condition - of a Rare First Press

Error Copy of Abbey Road with the Mis-aligned Apple!

Abbey Road, by The Beatles. PCS 7088 - STEREO. This LP is rare for two reasons; one giving full credence to the other. Firstly this is a rare 'First Pressing Error Copy', with the odd 'Mis-aligned Apple' logo on the reverse of the sleeve. This original First Press record, with its deep green Apple label on Side One, does have the 'Her Majesty' credit on the label, but does not have the credit on the sleeve. Some 'Error Copies' have this, but others do not, but the rarest, actually, is the 'Mis-aligned Apple Logo'.

The 'Mis-aligned Apple' error was rectified very shortly during the First Pressing, thus any pressing with this on its cover, is a genuine First Press and an early run and usually with a black, plain inner sleeve, which this fabulous record has. Finding this cover is very difficult and a real collector's item.

The ‘rumour’ machine surrounding The Beatles, during this release, began and of course reared its head on a number of ocassions, but this, with its very obvious Apple oddity, became ’The Secret Record’’... and it didn't last for long!

The second rare issue is obviously, as with any Beatles Record, being a First Pressing and this can be seen in the darker green Apple on the label on Side One, which in later pressings became a lighter colour, but also the fact it has no ‘Sold in the UK’ on the label, where later pressings did. This, coupled with the 'Error Sleeve', alone, proves this to be an early First Press in 1969!

To find such a gem is, on its own, a great find, but to find one in absolutely fantastic condition, with no scratches, scuffs, marks or writing - anywhere, is remarkable for 43 year old record and such a populare one by The Beatles. Both sides of the lovely dark, black lustrous viny are superb and the labels have no spindle wear or marks. Only under very bright light, can paper-marks be seen and that is something all vinyl, even brand new vinyl, will have, due to the nature of the paper inner sleeve being, actually, quite rigid.

Garod & Lofthouse, the outer sleeve manufacturer for The Beatles since their early days in 1963, produced the sleeve or cover for Abbey Road and yet again, this displays more provenance of its First Pressing. It has the odd and very rare 'Skinny Sine', which only lasted for a very short time during the 'Error' releases and was replaced when the errors were rectified, with a fuller spine, thus fuller sleeve in general. The cover is fully laminated is un-marked, no writing or damage, but just the odd crease in the laminate, but no structural alteration. It is excellent. The inner is a plain black, dye cut, corner-cut, crisp sleeve.

As usual with EMI it has the Matrix, Mother & Stamper Codes within the run-off areas of the vinyl on both sides and these codes translate its provenance, with Matrix No (Side 1) YEX 749-2, with Mother being '6' and Stamper or Dye being 'PDR' or '602' and the Matrix (Side Two) YEX 750-1 and Mother '4', with Stamper 'ODR' or '502'. With the Matrices of '749-2 & 750-1', this is the final First Press evidence and with its low Mothers, a nice example, code wise, too! 

Grading is subjective, but visually this is superb and from an audio point of view, too. The Record Collector's Guide would rate this as Execllent Plus, see below for its guides.

I do not, sadly, sell or post outside of the UK, as it is too expensive and problematic. Sorry! Postage is quoted for an item of no more than £46.00 in value, so, please, if you bid and win, wait until I invoice you, as above this and the record must be sent Guaranteed Next Day, with full tracking for both parties. This comes in higher thant the quoted £4.50, for Second Class Recorded and is £6.90, to include packaging.

Good luck all!

Record Collector Magazine's Grading Guide:

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler."

As well as the above grades, Near Mint is often used as well; this is really for a record that appears new but is known to have been played because the label has light spindle marks or because it has come from a previous owner and is assumed to have been played by them. For records which appear to fall between the accepted grades, + and - are also often added to the grading.

In addition to the basic grading, any individual faults should be noted separately such as if an otherwise Excellent cover has a name written on it, or a 7" single is missing its original centre etc.

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