JOHN LENNON. IMAGINE. RARE MINT - UNPLAYED - FIRST PRESSING LP. 1971.

	£		30
	$		40

PAS10004

Side One YEX 865 – 1U Side Two YEX 866 – 1U

This is very RARE! A totally original, un-played MIND CONDITION copy of IMAGINE an iconic LP and a FIRST PRESSING, with low matrix numbers, on the Apple Label, with vinyl un-marked and pristine and simply not played, with poster, still folded and immaculate, with neat, crisp original inner sleeve, that is both the Song Sheet and Personnel & Band credits and a stunning, mint laminated cover, which totally un-marked. The whole package is simply MINT PLUS and could have come right in from 1971. A time warp album in the condition it was in when purchased in 1971! Wow! Its EMI codes, as usual, hidden in the run-off areas of the vinyl tell a tale of provenance and are, as follows: Side One YEX 865 – 1U, which is the Press and this is First Press (there were many in the lifetime of this LP) with, at 6 o’clock (running around the label as if a clock-face, but in the run-off of the vinyl) ‘1 1 T’, being the EMI/APLE ‘Mother/Stamper’ code, based on the original and early EMI/PARLOPHONE code system, but altered for APLE. Also on Side One, in the 12 o’clock run-off there is an unusual personalisation, being, ‘Porky’, with a ‘2’ before. Side Two consists of, YEX 866 – 1U, First Press, ‘T 1 1’ at 6 o’clock and ‘Pecko’ at 12 o’clock. The suggestion is that this is No 9 ‘Stamper’ (there were hundreds of ‘Stampers’, which were the copper presses, cast from the stainless steel Positives or the ‘Mother’. The ‘1 1’ being reversed on each side and the digits being separate seem to suggest ‘1’ so this could well be from the first Mother or Positive, so a low numbered First Press record and with the unusual personalisation by two Pressing Staff at EMI, Hayes. This oddity of personalisation only usually occurs when a record is in its infancy, during press and release. Imagine is the second album by John Lennon, recorded and released in 1971, it tended towards songs that were gentler, more commercial and less avant-garde than those on his previous album, the critically acclaimed, but less popular John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band. The album is considered the most popular of his works. In 2012, Imagine was voted 80th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Although the basic tracks for Imagine were initially recorded at his home studio, Ascot Sound Studios in Tittenhurst Park, many of the instruments were re-recorded at the Record Plant in New York City, where strings and saxophone by King Curtis were also added. As on his last album, Phil Spector joined Lennon and Yoko Ono as co-producer on Imagine, and the ex-Beatles' mainstay, Klaus Voormann, returned on bass. Extensive footage of the sessions, showing the evolution of some of the songs, was compiled on a video documentary entitled Gimme Some Truth: The Making of John Lennon's Imagine. The first songs, "It's So Hard" and "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier, Mama, I Don't Want to Die", were recorded in February 1971 at Abbey Road Studios, during sessions for Lennon's single "Power to the People". (Other sources give the location as Ascot, however.[3][4]) Musicians at the these sessions included drummer Jim Gordon, soon to be ex-Derek & The Dominos. A cover of The Olympics' 1958 song "Well (Baby Please Don't Go)", later released on John Lennon Anthology, was also recorded during this time.[5] Lennon would choose to remake "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier", however, once the main album sessions were under way. Gathering at Ascot Sound in late June, Lennon enlisted help from Nicky Hopkins, members of the Apple band Badfinger, Alan White and Jim Keltner. George Harrison would also drop by to contribute lead guitar parts, before soon heading off to organise the Concert for Bangladesh. The title track "Imagine" became Lennon's signature song and was written as a plea for world peace. "Jealous Guy" has also had enduring popularity; it was originally composed as "Child of Nature" during the songwriting sessions in India in 1968 that led to The Beatles' double album The Beatles. "Oh My Love" and the song "How?" were influenced by his experience with primal therapy: "How?" contains the questions he was facing while going through the changes produced in him during the ongoing process of primal therapy, while "Oh My Love" was written to communicate the joy and growth Lennon was experiencing as a result of the therapy. Lennon also indulged his love of rock and roll with "Crippled Inside" and "It's So Hard". "Gimme Some Truth", originally heard during the Let It Be sessions in early 1969, appears on the album with a new bridge. The politically themed "I Don't Want to Be a Soldier" closes the first half of Imagine in a cacophonous manner. Imagine was written and recorded during a period of particularly bad feeling between Lennon and former bandmate Paul McCartney, following the break-up of The Beatles, the year before and McCartney winning his case in the High Court to have their legal partnership dissolved. Harrison guested on half of Imagine 's ten tracks, including the brutal "How Do You Sleep?", a song written in retaliation against McCartney's alleged personal attacks on Lennon and Ono, on the recent Ram album. Although Lennon softened his stance in the mid '70s and claimed he wrote "How Do You Sleep?" about himself, he revealed in 1980: "I used my resentment against Paul ... to create a song ... not a terrible vicious horrible vendetta ... I used my resentment and withdrawing from Paul and The Beatles, and the relationship with Paul, to write 'How Do You Sleep'. I don't really go 'round with those thoughts in my head all the time ..." The last song on the album was "Oh Yoko!" EMI pushed for this track to be the single, but Lennon thought it was too "pop". 1971 Billboard ad for the album. Initial release The album was released on 9 September 1971 in the United States and a month later, on 8 October, in the UK. Early editions of the LP included a postcard featuring a photo of Lennon holding a pig, in mockery of McCartney's similar pose with a sheep on the cover of Ram. It was also originally released in quadrophonic. Both the front and back cover photographs were taken by Yoko Ono. A quote from Ono's book Grapefruit (the UK edition of which the Lennons were in the process of promoting) was also included on the back cover: "Imagine the clouds dripping. Dig a hole in your garden to put them in." Upon the album's release, Rolling Stone reported that "it contains a substantial portion of good music" but, regarding the album’s predecessor as superior, warned of the possibility that "his posturings will soon seem not merely dull but irrelevant". The album went to number 1 worldwide and became an enduring seller, with the title track reaching number 3 in the United States. ("Imagine" would not be issued as a single in Britain until four years later, to coincide with the release of Lennon's Shaved Fish compilation.) In 2012, Imagine was voted 80th on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Aftermath In a November 1971 interview for Melody Maker, McCartney spoke positively of Imagine, considering it to be less political than Lennon's previous solo albums. (Lennon countered, in a subsequent edition of the same publication, characterising the album as, ‘’Working Class Hero With Sugar for Conservatives". Like its title track, Lennon's Imagine became a posthumous hit worldwide after his death in December 1980. The album re-entered the charts during 1981, peaking at number 3 in Norway, 5 in the United Kingdom, 34 in Sweden, and 63 in the United States. The Record Plant piano on which Lennon re-recorded some of the album's keyboard parts was sold at auction in 2007. Track listing All songs by John Lennon, except where noted. Side one "Imagine" - 3:01"Crippled Inside" - 3:47"Jealous Guy" - 4:14"It's So Hard" - 2:25"I Don't Want to Be a Soldier, Mama, I Don't Want to Die" - 6:05 Side two "Gimme Some Truth" - 3:16"Oh My Love" - 2:44 (Lennon?Ono)"How Do You Sleep?" - 5:36"How?" - 3:43"Oh Yoko!" - 4:20   

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler."

As well as the above grades, Near Mint is often used as well; this is really for a record that appears new but is known to have been played because the label has light spindle marks or because it has come from a previous owner and is assumed to have been played by them. For records which appear to fall between the accepted grades, + and - are also often added to the grading.

In addition to the basic grading, any individual faults should be noted separately such as if an otherwise Excellent cover has a name written on it, or a 7" single is missing its original centre etc.

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