Revolver. The Beatles. 1st Press Excellent 606-2/606-1. Rare Re-Mix 11. Mono.

	£		118
	$		156

THE BEATLES

REVOLVER

FIRST PRESS

RE-MIX 11 'TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS'

PMC7009

  SIDE ONE: XEX 605 - 2      SIDE TWO: XEX 606 - 1
MONO 1966 YELLOW & BLACK PARLOPHONE LABEL

First of all, this Rare LP is in far better condition, all round, than the last three or four offerings of this record here on Ebay, with one, being 'Presentable' selling for over £90 and another being 'Very Good' selling for over £114.00! This is Excellent and has many more attributes than the others and all in this one, rare, fab package, so read on, please!

 This isn’t just an original First Pressing of the Yellow & Black Parlophone Label copy of the Rare Remix-11 Revolver, with matrices for Side One being XEX 605-2 and Side Two XEX 606-1, it is also one of the lowest marked Mothers & Stampers that I have ever seen on a Beatles record of any kind!

Its rarity continues with the DR. ROBERT label credit, disliked and corrected by John Lennon, because of its abbreviation, as opposed to DOCTOR ROBERT on the corrected subsequent pressings.

If these rarities weren’t enough, it has the Ernest J. Day & Co flip back sleeve, which was used much less than the standard Garrord & Lofthouse sleeves, indeed it was around this time, in 1966, that Ernest J. Day & Co ceased to manufacture sleeves for The Beatles, with the sole contract going to Garrod & Lofthouse. I believe the company ceased to exist shortly after 1966, so to have an Ernest J. Day & Co cover is a pleasure in itself, as they had more 'style' in their design.

Next rarity... Low, Low, Low Mothers & Stampers, showing that this press really did end within an hour or so of EMI Hayes starting on that afternoon, when John Lennon kicked up an almighty fuss about Re-Mix 11 of 'Tomorrow Never Knows''. I have only once seen 'G' as a Stamper, but rarely have I seen such low Stampers and Mothers together! For those unfamiliar with these terms, the 'Mother' is the master dye, that the copper (coated in stainless steel) positive 'Stampers' are hewn from and they, as their name suggests, 'stamp' the vinyl or press, in correct terms. These, being used thousands of times and being copper based would wear and only had a short life, hence the EMI 'code' of letters (which transcribe to numbers, when you know the code) which can be up to 100s. For instance it is possible to have 'GHP' or 'ATM', for instance, which translate to '176' and '384'! So to find 'T' & 'P' Stampers, being '9' & '6', with Mothers (these masters could range from 1 to 8) of '1' & '2' is very, very rare and is actually time-evidence of events on that day, when the presses stopped! 

 So those Mothers & Stampers, which are so low as to virtually guarantee this to be one of the first few off the presses at EMI, Hayes are: Side One Mother or Master Dye is '2’' and its Stamper or Copper Plate Dye is 'T' or '9’. Side Two has Mother '1' and Stamper 'P' or '6'. These are LOW!

Another rarity and time-line evidence is th 'KT' Purchase Tax Stamp around the spindle hole on Side One, which is the 1966 Tax Code for, so called, 'Luxury Items, a 60s pre-cursor to VAT! Tax in the 60s was highly contentious, with The Beatles themselves about to begin Tax Exile, being personally taxed 19 shillings and 6 pence in the 20 shilling pound! This 'KT' Purchase Tax Code, really does set this LP apart from hundreds of thousands of others!

The Yellow & Plack Parlophone Label has ‘The Gramophone Co. Ltd’ text around the rim and it also has ‘Sold in the U.K. Subject to Resale Price Conditions, See Price Lists’ along the label, below Parlophone, which again sets this out as First Press and stunning, as these texts changed with later pressings.  

 Since this is a true collector’s record, those of you who are collectors will know this, but for those of you who don’t, it is actually very, very rare to find copies that have the Side Two matrix number of XEX 606-1 & Side One as XEX 606-2. The majority of early Mono copies out there have XEX 606-2 & XEX 606-2 and these are often confused with being First Press (you see that a lot on Ebay!), which is wrong; they are hastily changed Second Press, with Re-Mix 9 of 'Tomorrow Never Knows', due to John!

First Press  XEX 606-1 copies of Revolver have a different, alternative mix of the track 'Tomorrow Never Knows'. This track, known as Remix 11, has a longer fade-out and more prominant piano playing at the end. The story goes that the Beatles each received a 'test copy' or 'band copy' of the LP immediately production started and within an hour or so John Lennon, after listening to his copy requested that production should stop and so Hayes, EMI presses did just that: stopped! A meeting was called, the masters were listened to and the Lacquer of that side taken out of service, with new Mothers cast with the new version or mix of 'Tomorrow Never Knows', being a different mix; namely Re-Mix 9. XEX 606-1 Lacquer went and XEX 606-2 came in and the pressing began again that afternoon!

It is thought that only a few thousand copies, such as this copy, ever saw the light if day, so a true and exceptional rarity of 1966!


  The "DR. ROBERT" label error was also part of 'that' meeting, where John Lennon complained about the abbreviation 'Dr.' and he, with the groups approval, decided that all future label credits should have 'DOCTOR ROBERT', but, of course, management and Pressing Heads pointed out the label re-prints would take some time, so the pressing began with error 'DR.' labels and were replaced  a little while later. Oddly, maybe John had given up by this time, the abbreviated credit remains on this sleeve, which John obviously did not notice and someone did not correct!


The vinyl is in Excellent to Excellent Minus condition, with just odd surface marks and mild surface hair-lines, but it plays superbly, with no background noise and really, for an LP of 47 years of age, this must have been played with such care. It does have evidence of spindle wear, which was (is) typical, but, again, shows just what care was taken of the actualy vinyl with a stylus!

 
The flip-back Ernest J. Day & Co sleeve is laminated on the front, with a matt back and both sides are clean, un-marked, no staining, discolouration, no ink or biro and minimal creasing, with fully intact corners, sharp spine and minimal side opening wear. A lovely, rare sleeve cover, with Ernest J Day & Co ceasing to manufacture for The Beatles at around this time and ceasing to manufacture at all, not long afater!

It has the plain, soft plastic lined inner sleeve, that has the four blue boxes, top, bottom, and sides, with guides entitled ‘The Record’, ‘The Equipment’, ‘Important’ & ‘Playing Speed’. This is the original sleeve, with the plain white inner coming later and actually these 'blue box' sleeves are quite rare. This is fully intact, no seam splits and just the signs of browning to the white paper. It has been with the record since new and makes the LP complete!

So, this is a rare copy of this LP. For Three Reasons, not just the Remix 11, which is Rare enough, but for the Dr. Robert error,  the Ernest J. Day & Co sleeve, the low Mothers and really low Stampers and also the KT Tax Code! All of this and excellent, too!

Today, copies of Revolver with the XEX 606-1 side 2 Matrix are highly sought after by collectors and copies in Excellent condition can and do sell for large amounts, so this is both highly collectable and valuable, too! And as stated at the top of this listing, some poorer copies have surfaced on Ebay recently and sold for, in excess, of £114.00, so this is a more collectable and valuable LP, hence the higher starting price.

For those unsure of grading, please check the Record Colector or Goldmine guides, which I have referred to for my guidance, too.

Postage is higher than normal at £7, as Royal Mail dictates that any item over £50 must be sent Guaranteed Special Next Day Delivery, due to value and insurance. Sorry, I am only charging what RM charge.

Postage in and to the UK only.

  Thanks.  

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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