The Beatles Meet the Beatles US Orig'64 Capitol Promo Media Copy Rubber Stamp

$

1,641

INCREDIBLY RARE CAPITOL’S PROMOTIONAL COPY DESIGNATED FOR THE MEDIA PRESS AND RADIO STATIONS

THE BEATLES ~ MEET THE BEATLES! (1964)

CAPITOL RECORDS “FREE PROMOTIONAL ALBUM NOT TO BE SOLD” RED RUBBER INK STAMP

1ST PRINT LABELS WITHOUT THE BMI / ASCAP PUBLISHING CREDITS

SPECIAL BEATLES ISSUE “NATIONAL RECORDS NEWS” NEWSPAPER TABLOID

PROMOTIONAL “THE BEATLES ARE COMING!” TEASER STICKER

VINTAGE CAPITOL RECORDS’ 2-PAGE MEMO FROM THE SALES MANAGER PAUL RUSSELL

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

~ Before placing a bid, please make sure to attentively read our updated international shipping policy ~          

One of the first Capitol Records’ promotional copies that were distributed exclusively to radio stations and media press representatives in December 1963 in the US, before the official release of the album in January 1964. Despite the fact that before 1964 Capitol Records had already had the practice of equipping their promotional copies with covers containing the “PROMO” or “FREE” punch, the promotional copies of the “Meet the Beatles” album came with the red “FREE PROMOTIONAL ALBUM NOT TO BE SOLD” rubber ink stamp, as seen on the back side of this copy’s cover. This very early East Coast, Capitol Records Scranton, PA promotional copy contains the 1st print brown “Beatles” display banner at the top of the front cover. Very early 1st version cover without the “Produced by George Martin” credit at the bottom of the back cover. The bottom right corner contains the RIAA 3 number, identifying the issue as a Scranton, PA plant pressing. Capitol’s strategy to promote The Beatles included the distribution of 2” x 3” “The BEATLES Are Coming!” stickers, one of which is affixed to the front cover. This promotional copy comes with a vintage scan copy of 1963 Capitol Records memo for sales managers and regional managers from Paul Russell, Capitol's National Album Merchandising Manager, which includes the information about the "The BEATLES are coming!" stickers and describes "The Beatles! Campaign" in the US in all details. This very rare promotional set also comes with an incredibly rare original 1st issue authentic tabloid of “National Record News: Special Beatles Issue”, dated January 1964, which was sent to Capitol Records’ sales team and also described in the Memo. The four-page fold open 14¾" X 11½ newspaper contains the pictures of the band, the stories about Beatlemania along with the fashion news regarding the Beatle hairdo and biographies, including that of manager Brian Epstein, who is called the “Fifth Beatle”. The unique feature of this newspaper issue is the misprint of the band members names, identifying Paul as John, John as George and George as Paul. Only Ringo is mentioned correctly. The promotional set comes with the original Capitol Records royal blue inner sleeve. This copy has the very early 1st version vinyl with the Capitol Records rainbow labels without the BMI or ASCAP credits on either side, according to many sources only 200,000 of these copies were pressed. 1st US Mono issue thick glossy vinyl pressing with the stamped 1st matrix numbers in the trail-off vinyl: Side 1 - T1-2047-F1 IAM in a Triangle / Side 2 - T2-2047-G2 IAM in a Triangle.

★

The very clean cover is graded as Excellent Minus. It doesn't have any writing, splits or any soiling, just some very light age shelf wear on the front. The rigid spine has a fully readable text without any scuffing. The original royal blue inner sleeve is in Near Mint condition. It doesn't have any splits or tears, just having the word "Beatles" written in the upper left-hand corner. The original Capitol newspaper tabloid and vintage 2-page memo are in great condition with the newspaper only having some light splits at the center left and right along with the bottom, but no missing pieces. I grade the vinyl as Very Good Plus. It retains its beautiful factory gloss but has some very light non-feelable surface hairlines and marks along with some light scuffs from the original paper inner sleeve. The labels are very clean and are in Excellent Minus condition. They're very clean only having some light spindle marks visible under a strong light source. The record sounds great with only some very light static. Track 1 of Side 1 has a very light barely noticeable skip at the end of the track, but perhaps, this and the static could go away if the record is professionally cleaned using a VPI cleaning machine.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ★

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