SUPER RARE ORIG JOHN LENNON ROOTS Beatles ROUGH MIX

$

282

                      SUPER RARE ADAM VIII ORIGINAL

                   MINT IN SHRINK WRAP!

                   JOHN LENNON

                          "Roots"

\                                                                USA - ADAM VIII -  A 8018

TOP (((ORIGINAL))) COPY!

A great investment item, only continuing to rise in value...

Really a rare one...most copies that are found are counterfeits...here, a TOP COPY original first pressing, still in the original shrink wrapper and...MINT

"BELL SOUND" stamped in matrix ... advertisments on back cover are 100% clear, not fuzzy like the counterfeit (see photo #2) ...

The story behind the offered album, “John Lennon – Roots” would make a splendid movie or mini-series. The tale begins in the fall of 1969 with the release of The Beatles final studio album, “Abbey Road.” In the opening line of John’s song “Come Together” he sings “Here comes old flat top, he comes groovin’ up slowly.” This particular line was so similar to the line sung by Chuck Berry in his song “You Can’t Catch Me,” that it resulted in two lawsuits and a countersuit before the copyright infringement could finally be settled. If not for the high profiled immigration case of “John Lennon vs. The United States of America” that was in progress at the time, the “Come Together” lawsuit would have evolved into a media circus. The man behind Big Seven, Inc., the copyright holder of “You Can’t Catch Me” was none other than the notorious Morris Levy. He was widely known to have close ties to organized crime, namely the Genovese Family, one of the five New York crime clans. His reputation in the record industry was cheating the artists signed to his label, Roulette Records, out of royalties. In Oct 1973 Lennon and Levy came to terms and settled the matter out of court. Lennon had agreed to record three of Big Seven’s songs on his next album. However, John’s planned oldies album ran into complications with Phil Spector absconding the tapes. The album was put on hold and John proceeded to record and release “Wall and Bridges.” Since this album was all original material, it did not include any of Big Seven’s titles. This infuriated Levy and he called for a meeting with Lennon. The meeting which resembled a mob “sit down” took place at Levy’s nightclub, Club Cavallero, on October 8, 1974. Lennon was accompanied by his girlfriend May Pang along with his attorney Harold Seider and a business partner. Levy brought his associate Phil Kahl. The birth of the “Roots” album took place at this meeting. Levy entertained the proposition of producing a full album and marketing and selling it through the television. John was intrigued, but cautioned Levy about Capitol’s contract. After a few more meetings Lennon, in a show of good faith, handed Levy a rough mix of the intended album. The 7 ½ ips reel was for listening purposes only. John would never hand over a 15 ips master tape. Levy, on the other hand, had the tracks and proceeded straight to production. The important fact here is that Levy deliberately ignored John’s warnings of contractual agreement for distribution between Apple, Capitol and EMI Records. He never obtained the rights for distribution. Levy released his version in early February 1975 thus forcing Capitol to rush-release the official John Lennon, Rock ‘N’ Roll. Capitol threatened a lawsuit against Adam VIII and production came to a stop. Adam VIII did manage to sell over 1200 copies at the reduced price of $4.98 each, which was $2.00 under market. The design of the album's sleeve was similar to that of the early Roulette Records releases with a portrait of John silhouetted against a bright yellow background. Instead of obtaining a current photo of John, Levy used a photo from the "Let It Be" sessions. The actual songs delighted fans who bought it because it included two songs and different song mixes that were not on the official release. “Angel Baby” and “Be My Baby” were exclusive to this album. Due to the fact that Lennon did not issue “Angel Baby,” a Big Seven song, Levy brought a lawsuit against Lennon. This forced Apple, Capitol and EMI Records to file a countersuit against Levy for illegal distribution. After weeks of deliberation the case was settled and handed over to an appellate court. The final ruling in the case determined that John Lennon would be awarded $84,912 for loss of revenue and damage to his reputation, and Levy received a judgment in the amount of $6,795. As early as 1975 "Roots" became an instant collectible. Today, it remains one of the more difficult albums to find in any condition.

The album offered here is an original ADAM VIII pressing and is in Mint condition with no visible surface scratches. The sleeve is in Mint condition with no visible signs of wear, still in the original factory shrink wrapper.

Interestingly, Morris Levy in every way did suffer a substantial loss but he did boldly print on the album's label and sleeve “Produced from master recordings owned by and with permission of John Lennon and Apple Records.”

Remains a great investment item, only continuing to rise in value...

CONDITION: The Cover: Beautifully stiff and solid all the way around, MINT, still in the original factory shrink wrapper ...no split seams, no bends, no writing...there is a very very slight tio of one corner slightly dinged due to the tight shrink wrapper but that is only very inor, otherwise beautiful all the way around...

The Vinyl: TOP clean, M- with no surface scratches...glossy clean over both sides with CLEAN labels too....top copy, top rarity.... 

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record

The running order of  "ROOTS" and "ROCK N ROLL"  is different,  plus Roots containing the two more tracks (Angel Baby and Be My Baby) than Rock 'N' Roll. Some of the differences include:

Ain 't That A Shame 

Do You Want To Dance

The original version on Roots (US: Adam VIII A8018) runs 3:02; on Rock 'N' Roll 

the cut is only 2:53. Again, the difference is in the fade-out.

Slippin ' And Slidin'

The original version on Roots (US: Adam VIII A8018) runs 2:20; on Rock 'N' Roll

Stand By Me

The American single (Apple 1881) has strings added to the introduction and the entire track is

You Can't Catch Me