"PLEASE PLEASE ME"
PARLOPHONE PMC 1202, MONO
RELEASED 3/22/63

INCREDIBLY RARE 1963 YELLOW & BLACK VERY FIRST INITIAL LABEL
WITH SMALL "33⅓" SPEED INDICATOR PRINT.
ALSO HAS CORRECT INITIAL "ERNEST J. DAY" FIRST COVER

AS RARE - IF NOT RARER - THAN THE INFAMOUS PREMIERE "BLACK AND GOLD" ISSUE
AND HAS BECOME THE MOST SOUGHT AFTER PRESSINGS OF THIS ALBUM

ITEM#: PAR342
PRICE: ------

ON FEBRUARY 11, 1963, THE BEATLES ENTERED EMI'S ABBEY ROAD STUDIO TO RECORD SONGS FOR INCLUSION ON THEIR DEBUT ALBUM. IN WHAT IS GENERALLY ACKNOWLEDGED TO BE ONE OF THE MOST PRODUCTIVE DAYS EVER SPENT IN A RECORDING STUDIO, THE BEATLES RECORDED TEN HIGH-SPIRITED SONGS THAT WERE STANDARDS IN THEIR LIVE PERFORMANCES. OF THE TEN SONGS COMPLETED FOR RELEASE, FOUR WERE LENNON & McCARTNEY ORIGINALS (CREDITED ON THE ALBUM AS "McCARTNEY-LENNON") AND SIX WERE COVER VERSIONS THAT ARE TODAY BETTER KNOWN THAN THEIR ORIGINAL VERSIONS. THESE SONGS, PLUS FOUR SONGS RECORDED FOR THE GROUP'S FIRST TWO SINGLES, BECAME THE BEATLES FIRST ALBUM, WHICH WAS NAMED PLEASE PLEASE ME AFTER THE GROUP'S HIT SINGLE.

WITH ONLY A SINGLE DAY AVAILABLE IN ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, PRODUCER GEORGE MARTIN KNEW TIME WAS AN ISSUE. WITH THE FOUR SONGS FROM THE GROUP'S FIRST TWO SINGLES SLATED FOR THE ALBUM, THE PLAN WAS TO COMPLETE TEN NEW SONGS TO FLESH OUT THE 14-SONG LP, ALL IN ONE DAY. THREE FEBRUARY 11 RECORDING SESSIONS IN STUDIO TWO WERE BOOKED FOR : 10 AM TO 1 PM; 2:30 PM TO 5:30 PM; AND 7:30 PM TO 10:45 PM. IT WAS AN AMBITIOUS GOAL, PARTICULARLY CONSIDERING THAT THE BAND HAD BEEN PERFORMING ON THE ROAD NON-STOP SINCE RETURNING FROM HAMBURG AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR. IN ADDITION, THE GROUP HAD BEEN TRAVELING THROUGH A BRUTALLY FRIGID WINTER, AND JOHN WAS SUFFERING FROM A BAD COLD.

THE PLEASE PLEASE ME LP WAS ORIGINALLY RELEASED ONLY IN MONO AS PARLOPHONE PMC 1202 ON MARCH 22, 1963. ALTHOUGH IT HAS BEEN REPORTED THAT THERE WERE NO PLANS TO MARKET A STEREO VERSION OF THE ALBUM AT THAT TIME, THIS IS NOT THE CASE. EMI'S NEW RELEASE AD IN THE APRIL 4, 1963, ISSUE OF RECORD RETAILER SHOWS THE MONO LP AND STATES "STEREO TO FOLLOW". THE STEREO VERSION OF THE ALBUM, PARLOPHONE PCS 3042, WAS ISSUED FIVE WEEKS LATER ON APRIL 26.

FAB 4 COLLECTIBLES MOST PROUDLY OFFERS THIS MEGA-RARE PARLOPHONE 'YELLOW AND BLACK' LABEL VARIATION (MODERNIZED TO THIS STYLE BY PARLOPHONE IN THE SPRING OF 1963 FROM THE ORIGINAL 'BLACK AND GOLD' LABEL STYLE). THIS MONO PRESSING OF THE ALBUM FEATURES THE RARE LABEL VARIATION WHICH WAS AVAILABLE FOR ONLY A SHORT ONE OR TWO WEEKS. BOTH SIDES OF THE DISC CARRIES THE VERY FIRST LABEL VERSION OF THE YELLOW AND BLACK LABEL, WHICH SHOWS THE LOWER HALF OF THE LABEL WAS EFFECTIVELY A DIRECT TRANSFER OF INFORMATION FROM THE BLACK AND GOLD LABEL WHICH INCLUDED THE SMALL  "33⅓'"  SPEED INDICATOR IN THE 9 O'CLOCK POSITION AND LACKS THE "RECORDING FIRST PUBLISHED...'" TEXT  ABOVE THE LEFT HAND SIDE NUMBERS (PAR 3042.MR3A, SPIZER).  THE LABEL WAS QUICKLY REDESIGNED WITHOUT THE SMALL REDUNDANT  "33⅓'"  PRINT, AS IT WAS NOTICED THAT THE NEWLY DESIGNED YELLOW AND  BLACK LABEL ALREADY HAD A SPEED INDICATOR INCORPORATED INTO THE NEW DESIGN ABOVE THE YELLOW 'PARLOPHONE' LOGO.  DUE TO THESE RAPID CHANGES IT IS, NUMBER-WISE, RARER THAN THE INFAMOUS BLACK AND GOLD LABEL VERSION. THIS TRULY EXCELLENT DISC BEARING THESE RARE LABELS IS ONE OF THE WORLD'S RAREST AND MOST SOUGHT AFTER PRESSINGS OF THIS ALBUM.

THE CONDITION OF THE LABELS ARE A BEAUTIFUL NEAR MINT MINUS, BOTH OF WHICH ARE CLEAN AND BRIGHT WITH A MODERATE COLLECTION OF LIGHT SPINDLE TRAILS AROUND EACH CENTER HOLE AND JUST A HINT OF WEAR TO EACH CENTER HOLE. BOTH SIDES OF THE SPARKLING NEAR MINT VINYL OF THIS HIGH-QUALITY, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING ARE CLEAN AND GLOSSY WITH NO SIGNIFICANT SURFACE MARKS OR WEAR VISIBLE IN STRONG DAYLIGHT. CLOSER EXAMINATION DIRECTLY BENEATH HALOGEN LIGHT REVEALS JUST THE USUAL MINOR WISPY SURFACE MARKS CONSISTENT WITH LIGHT PLAY AND INNER-SLEEVE REMOVAL WITH NO OTHER MAJOR VISUAL ISSUES.  THE TRAIL OFF MARKINGS INDICATE: SIDE ONE MATRIX NUMBERS: "XEX 421-1N". SIDE 2 MATRIX NUMBERS: "XEX 422-1N". SIDE ONE STAMPER CODES: "1-RM".  SIDE 2 STAMPER CODES: "1/2-G0".  The embossed RAISED "MT" PURCHASE tax code is stamped around the centER of the Side 1 label.

THE ULTRA-RARE DISC IS HOUSED IN THE ORIGINAL, INITIAL FIRST RUN COVER MANUFACTURED BY "Ernest J. Day & Co. Ltd. London" (ONLY 10% OF BEATLES ALBUM COVERS IN BRITAIN WERE MANUFACTURED BY ERNEST J. DAY & CO. LTD.). IT IS INDEED THE VERY FIRST BATCH OF MONO COVERS (PAR 3042.MC1A, SPIZER) THAT HAVE A LARGE "MONO" DESIGNATION ON THE FRONT. THE TRUE FACT TO A FIRST ISSUE COVER IS EVIDENT BY THE ANGUS McBEAN PHOTO CREDIT IS SHIFTED TO THE RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM EDGE OF THE FRONT COVER, WITH THE WORD "PHOTO" STARTING UNDER THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LAST "S" IN "SONGS".  THE VG+++ COVER IS A BEAUTIFUL SOLID EXAMPLE OF A GENUINE EARLY COVER WHICH ALSO HOUSED THE FIRST BLACK AND GOLD LABEL PRESSINGS. THE FRONT PANEL IS CLEAN AND BRIGHT WITH VERY LIGHT SPORADIC STORAGE WEAR RUBBING TO THE BOTTOM EDGE. THERE IS MINOR SHELF WEAR BRUISING TO THE LOWER RIGHT CORNER. THE OPENING EDGES ARE CLEAN AND STRAIGHT. THE EXPOSED REAR PANEL IS REALLY WHITE AND CLEAN AND UNBLEMISHED WITH NO MISSING PAPER ANYWHERE. ALL OF THE DELICATE FLIP BACKS ARE FULLY INTACT AND IN-PLACE WITH NO REPAIRED OR MISSING SECTIONS. THERE IS A TINY LIGHT AGE STAIN TO THE BOTTOM FLIP BACK SECTION. BOTH THE UPPER SEAM AND THE FULLY WORDED SPINE ARE CLEAN AND UNWORN.

THE SET IS Complete with its ACCOMPANYING original "Use Emitex..." rice-paper lined inner DUST sleeve. THIS NEAR MINT MINUS EXAMPLE IS CLEAN WITH NO TEARS, WRITING OR SEAMS SPLITS.