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Tracklisting & More Information
This legendary first Beatles album was released on Friday 22nd March 1963 on the Parlophone label. It topped the charts on 11th May 1963 where it stayed for 30 weeks until it was knocked off the number one spot by 'With The Beatles'. Much of the album was recorded in just one day, under the guidance of George Martin. Unusually the mono edition was issued six weeks before the stereo copies. At the time of release of the album the design of the Parlophone label was in a transition period. The label was being changed from a black and gold design to a black and yellow design. Very few mono copies of Please Please Me were issued with the black and gold labels and they have become highly sought after by collectors. When found they are usually in average condition at best due to the amount of parties they were taken to.
The Beatles FIRST official L.P. release. For the ONLY time, the mono version was issued 6 weeks BEFORE the stereo version.
This album contained the "A" and "B" sides of their first two singles, plus ten new songs ALL recorded in one incredible session at Abbey Road. The session cost just £400 and lasted 16 hours.
The album took exactly 6 months to pass the sales figure of 250,000, and went on to sell over half-a-million in the U.K. with world sales of almost two million.
It still holds the record for the longest continuous stay at number 1
The cover photo was taken at EMI's Manchester Sq. headquarters by Angus McBean, and the sleeve notes are by Tony Barrow.
Whilst trying to think of catchy names for their first album release, George Martin offered the title, "Off The Beatle Track", but this was bypassed. Mr. Martin clearly liked the name, and used it himself in 1964.
MONO/STEREO DIFFERENCES
"Please Please Me" The stereo version has John making a mistake in the words of the final verse, which causes him to chuckle in the final chorus ... these are NOT heard in the mono version
CONDITION
The front of the Ernest J Day laminated flipback picture sleeve is in reasonable condition with the rich, vibrant colours mostly shining through. It features a large MONO logo on the far right hand side of the sleeve. The cover has some corner creasing & multiple splits & paper loss around the edges & a small area of paper loss at the opening edge. Half the bottom flipback is damaged & hanging loose. The reverse has a name annotation with three areas of discolouration due to previous tape adhesion, which has in a few places caused a little paper loss, making some areas of text illegible.
The labels have some fading making the titles hard to read, but still legible, with some paper loss around the spindle hole. This is the first pressing with this label design, which credits "Dick James Mus. Co" for Please Please Me, I Saw Her Standing There, Misery, Do You Want To Know A Secret & There's A Place. The second pressing credits Northern Songs for I Saw Her Standing There, Do You Want To Know A Secret, There's A Place & Misery, but retains the "Dick James Mus. Co" credit for Please Please Me.
The vinyl is in 'much loved' condition. Visually most of the surface area is scuffed with the odd heavier scratch, however mostly the playback is fairly good [Wow - These first pressings are the real deal - before mass production got involved!] there is just a little light crackling in the quieter sections having been professionally cleaned & play tested, the vinyl is graded as FAIR; there are two skips during I Saw Her Standing There and an area of heavy axial wear during There's A Place resulting in noticeable distortion during the middle and causing it to stick towards the end, however for the most part playback is still great.
The Matrix Numbers are machine stamped XEX 421 - 1N for side one & XEX 422 - 1N for side two in the run-outs. The original 'Emitex' inner is present & correct.
All in all, a far from Mint copy, but a still a nice 'boast' item at a fair price.
Tracklisting :-
01. I Saw Her Standing There
02. Misery
03. Anna (Go To Him)
04. Chains
05. Boys
06. Ask Me Why
07. Please Please Me
08. Love Me Do
09. P.S. I Love You
10. Baby It's You
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste Of Honey
13. There's A Place
14. Twist And Shout
LP RECORD
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