The Beatles "Sgt Peppers" Limited Edition Audiophile Half speed master Uber rare

	A$		800
	$		530

THE BEATLES–“SGT. PEPPERS AUDIOPHILE LP”

ULTRA RARE AUSTRALIAN RELEASE ONLY – AUDIO.5

NUMBERED 253 of 497!  vinyl is NM- with only the slightest of hairlines.  Has been play tested and it is STUNNING!!!  Sleeve has slight corner wrinkle on bottom right corner and the slightest of ring wear top centre of front cover.  There is also the beginnings of a seam split opposite the opening where the laminate has ruptured slightly on the spine but hard to see and probably quite easily repaired.   Labels are unmarked with no spindle marks that I could see.

Description The rarest of the rare of The Beatles “official” releases. Australian Release only on a unique EMI Audiophile label AUDIO-5 in MINT condition.

Track Listing

1.   Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She's Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. Lovely Rita
10. Good Morning, Good Morning
11. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
12. A Day In The Life


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE SGT. PEPPER'S AUDIO 5 LP

Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: AUDIO 5-A -3 DB
Side 2: AUDIO-5-B DB STUDIO 301

Mastered by Don Bartley at Studios 301

This exclusive Audiophile record came into existence following a decision by EMI Australia to try their hand at half-speed mastering for a reissue series. In January 1981 they took their existing 15-ips masters for Please Please Me and Sgt. Pepper's and brought them down to 7.5-ips and cut lacquers for each title. After checking for quality these were rejected. Please Please Me was abandoned in favour of concentrating on Sgt. Pepper's so a new master was supplied by EMI UK and they set to work again.

In April 1982 the first serious cut was created, with Side 2 being successful. Side 1 was more problematic and it wasn't until the third recut, which took 8 hours to cut just 40 minutes of music, that produced a result with which they were satisfied. This is known as the -3 cut and was used to create the final finished disc.

This LP never went on sale in regular record stores, but was made exclusively available to the public at the Sydney Hi-Fi And Audio Show on July 3rd 1983. Just 497 numbered copies were released with unique label artwork, mirroring the black and silver one EMI box Parlophone labels of 1969, and housed inside a single pocket picture cover with AUDIOPHILE designated on the back. Each LP had an individually numbered sticker fixed to the top right corner of the back cover. This is copy no 253. The release also carries the unique catalogue number AUDIO-5.

This LP would appear to be the Australian equivalent of the rare Nimbus Supercut release, produced in the UK for Practical Hi-Fi magazine in 1984. Other titles were scheduled to get the same treatment, most notably Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon which is believed to have reached the acetate stage, but finished discs appear never to have been made. Interestingly, Wish You Were Here was given the Nimbus Supercut treatment in the UK, instead of the more obvious Dark Side.

Don Bartley, engineer at Studio 301 recalls:

"The whole project was handled very well by EMI. I was given all the time that I needed to get it right and I seem to remember spending about 3 days on it. As it was a "half speed" transfer there were many test cuts done, two of which I still have and I have never played them since that time. I remember spending many hours setting up for the "secret" track in the lock groove at the end and somehow, I managed to get it exactly the same as the original Abbey Road "cut". The tapes used were specially sent out from Abbey Road, they were not the originals but 1:1 direct copies of the originals. They were 30 ips, Dolby A and I remember feeling quite privileged and lucky the moment I started to play them. The amazing thing about this project was that I was allowed to EQ at my leisure and I must say that it was a challenge especially working at half speed. I do remember listening to the test cuts at the time and thinking how fantastic it sounded. Since then I have quite a few people comment on its quality, including Ed Kuepper ( From the Saints, laughing clowns etc) , who said it's the best version he has ever heard. "

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