Unfinished Music No.1 Two Virgins, John Lennon Yoko Ono

	£		50
	$		66

Hi, welcome to my auction.

You are bidding to own a marvellous piece of music history, an original 1968 copy of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s first album entitled Unfinished Music No.1 Two Virgins. This was the first of three albums made by the pair however this one is the most well known and important for a few reasons.....

It was made when John Lennon was still a member of the Beatles

It is widely regarded as the most controversial album of all time due to the album artwork and the fact that it was banned from several countries and sold in brown paper bags in others

The album artwork is a naked photo of John Lennon and Yoko Ono shortly before they consummated their relationship with each other.

The album has the no. 613012 on the label which is the catalogue number from Track records.

As you can see from the photos the cover has some creases through years of storage on the bottom and top right hand corners but the album contains the original black sleeve and LP itself which has been played once in its lifetime by my uncle who brought it in 1968. Fortunately he handed it down to me as an investment however, i now have a baby on the way and have decided to give up this amazing piece of music history. Descriptions of the album from various articles and websites are listed below.

One of the most notorious and controversial albums of all time is “Two Virgins,” which was released in 1968 by “John Lennon and Yoko Ono.” On the front cover was a full frontal picture of both, completely nude, and on the back was a nude picture from the behind. Paul McCartney had tried to convince Lennon not to release the cover because of the controversy it would certainly create. In some jurisdictions, the albums were impounded as obscenity and distributors were forced to sell the release in plain brown wrap wrappers.

Released Versions (Rarities)

First pressings (1968) - Mono...Value £1000

APCOR 2 - Mono version
black inner sleeve
NO track listing
"Made In Merrie England" on the front cover.

Detail :

John's first solo album release, and first of his "experimental" outings.
Credited to John Lennon and Yoko Ono.

The original premise of the "Unfinished Music" series was that John and Yoko were going to chronicle their lives together on record release, this is the first of these.

Recorded one May morning between midnight and dawn in 1968 at John's Kenwood mansion in Weybridge (probably Sunday 19th May 1968). John's wife, Cynthia, had gone on holiday to Greece with Jennie Boyd and Magic Alex. Yoko had expressed an interest in John's avant-garde recordings using his home recording system, and they decided to make an album together.
So, John's first recording venture without his fellow Beatles was this wierd album of sound effects and bodily noises.

More interesting than the "music" (sorry, John) was the album cover. The naked photographs were taken in the basement of Ringo's gaff in Montague Square, London in early October 1968. There was no way John was going to allow a professional photographer to take the pictures as he was too embarrased, so he set the camera up using a delayed shutter release and took them himself.
That was the easy bit ... next was convincing the other Beatles to approve the project ... that took almost six months !
And even though Paul was strongly against the sleeve, he still contributed with a one line sleeve note which reads:
"When two great Saints meet, it is a humbling experience. The long battles to prove he was a Saint."
Next obstacle was the record company, who refused release unless the pictures were changed. But, eventually the album was distributed by Track records in the U.K. (as catalogue number 613 012) ... under one condition ... that it was wrapped in a brown paper bag.
But even with approval, the record company printers wouldn`t print it, and many record shops refused to stock it. Even the music press opposed it and no editor would accept any of the adverts.

Not surprisingly, it sold only around 5,000 copies and did not enter the charts.
It was also the first solo Beatles album to be deleted by E.M.I. ... although it was re-instated into the catalogue in January 1975 when being distributed by Charmdale. But, by 1978 it was deleted again.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact me and i will get back to you as soon as possible.

Payment via paypal or cash on collection. Payment must be cleared before the item is released.

The item will be sent first class recorded delivery or can be hand delivered at a charge. 

Good luck and happy bidding

Hi, A few bidders have pointed out that i have wrongly listed this item, This album is acutally the STEREO VERSION of the album, not the Mono. Apologies if this has caused confusion.