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Tracklisting & More Information
1. Bohemian Rhapsody
2. I'm In Love With My Car
CONDITION
This record is in superb MINT condition with no spindle marks around centre to indicate any previous playing.
The glossy purple sleeve has gold lettering with white EMI Records lettering & logo and 1978 Export logo on the front. Along with the hand-written number on the reverse is the lettering 'dp delga press limited' along left hand flap and 'Printed in England' in bottom left hand corner.
The sleeve itself is in superb shape with just a couple of minor scuffs to the edges and a tiny loss of purple laminate in the top right hand corner but absolutely nothing of any serious nature.
THIS IS NUMBER 58 OUT OF 200.
The rarely seen purple and gold card carrying envelope is in pristine condition with just one minor crease at the top of one of the handles with white lettering 'EMI Records Limited International Division' along with the EMI logo, crest and '1978' in gold and 'Printed in England' in small letters in the bottom left hand corner - This is identical on both sides.
Hand numbered in black felt pen on back of the sleeve and on the 'A' side label (all copies were hand-numbered on the label, some on the a-sides and some on the b-sides).
The full colour 'Night At The Opera' crest labels are smooth & glossy apart from a 1" diameter around centre hole which is a rough matt finish and has the wording "Special Limited Edition" printed.
Machine stamped matrixes of "EMI2375A-3 Blair" & "EMI2375B-1".
BACKGROUND HISTORY
Released on October 31st 1975, 'Bo Rhap' entered the charts the following week at No. 47, climbing to No. 1 three weeks later, where it stayed for an incredible nine weeks, helped by a memorable innovative video.
Three years later, Queen had gone from strength to strength, creating stadium anthems such as 'We Are The Champions' and 'We will Rock You', but it was 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that was remembered when EMI was awarded the prestigious Queen's Award To Industry For Export Achievement. Beating off competition from thousands of other manufacturers, EMI's International Division won the title due to the massive increase in exports of records by British artists.
Justifiably proud, Paul Watts, then General Manager of EMI's International Division, decided to commemorate the award with the release of a special single. The choice of artist was easy.
The then current vogue for coloured vinyl seemed to the the ideal way to present this special edition of 200 copies: "We came up with the band's original colours - purple and gold, as on the 'Queen I' cover," Watts remembered. "These colours signified Queen in a way. We decided on a maroon and gold sleeve and a single in purple vinyl." But it wasn't to be: the project became a corporate event, with EMI Records Ltd (and not just EMI the label) getting in on the action. Paul Watt reluctantly relinquished control of the project to "the team upstairs", imploring them to "make sure you do it right!"
But as Watts had feared, there was a blunder: "Lo and behold, when the record came back from the factory, it wasn't purple at all, but blue! It was a cock-up, but as we only had 200, it wasn't worth changing it." At the EMI pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex, Production Controller John Tagg had no idea that the vinyl should have been purple, and - acting on corporate directives - pressed the record in blue. "The blue granules were specially formulated for the project," he remembered.
Pressing the run of 200 blue vinyl singles from the usual minimum of 1,000 or 1,500 black vinyl records was no easy feat, with Tagg and his team having to isolate the special edition from the rest of their system. Getting a pure blue strain of vinyl was also time-consuming, and the Queen single took around three days to produce, costing an exorbitant £4 to £5 per copy, where the usual rate was 50p. To finish off the record, full-colour "Night At The Opera" crest labels were printed and each disc was hand numbered on the A-side and again on the back of the special purple-and-gold sleeve.
Although John Tagg claims that the record was "very much a limited edition" of only 200 and that all the materials associated with the pressing were destroyed afterwards, some unnumbered test pressings or end-of-run copies did slip out. These come with finished labels but no sleeves.
EMI's International Division was formally presented with the Queen's Award To Industry for Export Achievement at a three-hour luncheon in the Cotswold suite at London's Sellfridge Hotel on Wednesday, 26th July 1978. EMI directors and management were out in force, but Her Majesty was absent, sending instead the Vice Lord-Lieutenant Of Greater London, Admiral Sir Charles Madden as her representative. the group themselves were also noticeably absent, being holed up in Montreux, Switzerland, recording the "Jazz" album and holding a typically extravagant party for Roger Taylor's 29th birthday
The initial 10 copies of blue vinyl singles were framed and given to the members of Queen's entourage and EMI executives.
7" RECORD
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