INTRODUCING THE BEATLES - The Beatles - 1964 MONO LP Vee Jay LP 1062 w/Misprint
$
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Description
Introducing... The Beatles is the first studio album released by the English rock band the Beatles in the United States.
"VERSION ONE": Originally, Vee-Jay considered releasing the Please Please Me LP unaltered, as it appeared in the UK. A surviving acetate made by Universal Recording Corporation of Chicago, probably in May 1963, contains all 14 songs in the same order as on the UK album, with the title still listed as Please Please Me. But in keeping with the American norm of a 12-song album, Vee-Jay chose instead to omit "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" (which had comprised the first single release) and change the album's title to Introducing... The Beatles. Originally scheduled for a July 1963 release, the LP came out on 10 January 1964, on Vee-Jay Records, ten days before Capitol’s Meet the Beatles! The latter album, however, entered the U.S. album chart one week before the former.
"VERSION TWO": To circumvent a restraining order, Vee-Jay quickly reconfigured Introducing... The Beatles. It removed "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" and replaced them with the previously omitted "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me". The new versions were prepared in late January and began appearing in stores around 10 February 1964. Because of the initial restraining order, version two of Introducing... The Beatles did not enter the Billboard charts until three weeks after Capitol's Meet the Beatles! album. Once it did, it quickly rose to the number two spot, where it stayed for nine straight weeks. It also peaked at number two in Cash Box, and it got to number one in Record World magazine.
It was the subject of much legal wrangling, but ultimately, Vee-Jay was permitted to sell the album until late 1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. On 24 July 2014 the album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA.
THIS COPY is a “Version Two” – but unfortunately, beyond that I have not been able to completely narrow down the pressing. It is MONO, with all the right cover and label configurations, but some of the dead wax information is just too hard to read. ☹ I am providing in the “Notes”, below, only information that I could verify. It is most probably an ARP first pressing, as I explore further in the notes.
The vinyl, per a test listen, does not have any skips, but there is a lot of background static throughout major portions of the recordings - although it is still an enjoyable listen. Because of the static, I am only grading the vinyl as Very Good [VG]. Note that visually there are also many marks, one of which I show a photo of (so it's not especially "pretty").
The original cover has a lot of rubbing, but no seam splits. Now a story: when I was still in junior high school, I went to a party. I wanted to take this newly purchased record with me to play at the party, but my mom was worried it wouldn’t make it’s way home with me, so she wrote our family’s last name on the front. Yeah, that happened. Hope you can remove it; I didn’t want to try. Overall, the cover is in Very Good [VG] or better condition.
The replacement inner sleeve is plain white and is new, hence in Excellent [EX] condition.
Notes
Full title printed on the front cover: "Introducing... The Beatles Englands[sic] No.1 Vocal Group".
Label catalog number printed on the front cover: "LP 1062".
Label catalog number printed on the back cover: "VJLP 1062".
Label catalog number printed on the labels: "VJLP1062"
This version MAY BE the ARP pressing plant variation, see further below.
Distinguishing characteristics:
Jacket:
- Shadow behind George Harrison on front cover;
- Tracklist printed in two columns on back cover;
- "Please, Please Me" printed with comma on back cover;
Labels:
- Large bracketed Vee Jay Records logo;
- Rainbow-colored ring encircles the perimeter;
- "INTRODUCING THE BEATLES" printed in capital letters;
- "Long Playing" printed as two words (as opposed to one), to the left of the center hole, and underneath the matrix numbers;
- "Microgroove" printed to the right of the center hole underneath the side specifications;
[Not mentioned on discogs, this copy also has the "Coffin" instead of "Goffin" misprint on the credits for the song "Chains".]
Pressing Plant ID (Stamped in runouts): ARP – Maybe!
Barcode and Other Identifiers
Matrix / Runout (Label side A): 63-3402
Matrix / Runout (Label side B): 63-3403
Matrix / Runout (Runout side A variant 2): ARP AudioMatrix 63-3402-1 2-6-64 URJ - ???
Matrix / Runout (Runout side B variant 2): ARP AudioMatrix 63-3403-1 URJ 1-23-64 - ???
As mentioned, the dead wax is hard to read, but 63-3402-1 (on side one) and 63-3403-1 (on side two) are clear, as is URJ on both sides. 1-23-64 also is clear on side two. That leaves the ARP and AudioMatrix in question. If that is them in the dead wax, they are not clear, which is why I can only suggest this “may be” an ARP pressing.
ENJOY!
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