"PLEASE PLEASE ME"
PARLOPHONE PCS 3042, STEREO
RELEASED 3/22/63

MONUMENTALLY RARE ORIGINAL FIRST ISSUE BLACK AND GOLD PARLOPHONE "STEREO" LABELS,
VERY FIRST PRESSING WITH ‘1/R’ AND ‘1/G’ STAMPERS AND "DICK JAMES" PUBLISHING CREDITS

ITEM#: PAR335
PRICE: $27,500

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.

HERE IS A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO ACQUIRE ONE OF THE FINEST EXAMPLES OF THE MOST RAREST AND DESIRABLE OF ALL BEATLES LPS. THE INITIAL MONO PRESSING SOLD QUICKLY ON ITS RELEASE ON MARCH 22, 1963, BUT NOT UNTIL A FULL FIVE WEEKS LATER ON APRIL 26, THAT THIS FIRST STEREO PRESSING WAS MADE AVAILABLE. THE MAJOR FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE RARITY AND DESIRABILITY OF THIS PRESSING IS THAT IN THE SPRING OF 1963, EMI WAS ABOUT TO CHANGE THE STYLE OF THEIR LABELS. THE OLD-STYLE BLACK GOLD DESIGN WAS BEING REPLACED JUST AS THIS ALBUM WAS RELEASED BY THE ICONIC BLACK AND YELLOW DESIGN WHICH WOULD REMAIN UNTIL 1969.  IN ADDITION TO THIS, THE MARKET FOR STEREO POP RECORDS WAS EXTREMELY SMALL AT THIS TIME, WITH MOST TEENAGE FANS OWNING ONLY BASIC MONO EQUIPMENT. BOTH FACTORS MEANT THAT VERY FEW COPIES OF THIS STEREO ALBUM WITH THE BLACK AND GOLD LABELS WERE AVAILABLE OR SOLD UPON RELEASE. IT IS REPORTED THAT APPROXIMATELY ONLY 900 COPIES OF THIS STEREO PRESSING WERE MANUFACTURED, BUT WHAT IS TRUE IS THAT VERY FEW SURVIVE TODAY, ESPECIALLY IN THIS CONDITION.  FAB 4 COLLECTIBLES PROUDLY OFFERS THIS Monumentally Rare VERY FIRST STEREO version of The Beatles FIRST UK Album, considered the 'HOLY GRAIL' AND most collectible UK Beatles album of all time.

THE COVER IS THE CORRECT AND ORIGINAL INITIAL FIRST RUN, with "Printed and Made by Ernest J. Day & Co. Ltd. London" In the lower right hand corner of the back cover (ONLY 10% OF BEATLES ALBUM COVERS IN BRITAIN WERE MANUFACTURED BY ERNEST J. DAY & CO. LTD.). IT IS INDEED THE VERY FIRST BATCH OF STEREO COVERS (PAR 3042.SC1A, SPIZER) THAT HAVE A LARGE "STEREO" DESIGNATION AND THE ANGUS McBEAN PHOTO CREDIT 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 ALBUM COVER  is A MOST SUPERB NEAR MINT MINUS (BORDERS VG+++) EXAMPLE OF THIS CORRECT, EARLIEST-TYPE COVER WHICH RETAINS A SPARKLING AND UNSCRATCHED HIGH-GLOSS FRONT LAMINATE WITH NO THUMBNAIL WRINKLES. THERE IS SLIGHT AND VERY MILD SHELF WEAR BRUISING TO THE CORNERS WHICH IS VISIBLE IN THE IMAGES, BUT OVERALL ALL ARE IN SOLID SHAPE. BOTH OPENING EDGES ARE CLEAN AND SHARP. NO TEARS OR FEATHERING. THE EXPOSED REAR PANEL IS A CLEAN BRIGHT WHITE WITH A COUPLE OF VERY SMALL STORAGE WEAR MARKS BUT CERTAINLY NO WRITING OR MISSING PAPER. ALL FLIP-BACKS ARE UNDAMAGED AND FULLY INTACT. THE SPINE IS IN SUPERB CONDITION, UNDAMAGED and the printed wording "Please Please Me – The Beatles" is clearly legible.

THE STUNNING RECORD LABELS (PAR 3042.SR1A, SPIZER)  ARE ABSOLUTELY MINT, STUNNINGLY IMMACULATE AND RADIANT WITH NO WEAR TO THE DELICATE GOLD PRINT AND WITHOUT ANY SPINDLE "SPIDER" MARKS OR WEAR TO OR AROUND EITHER CENTER HOLE. THE MOST VITAL ASPECT OF THESE INITIAL VERY FIRST LABELS IS THE FACT THAT THEY ERRONEOUSLY LIST "DICK JAMES MUS. CO." AS THE PUBLISHER FOR ALL OF THE "McCARTNET-LENNON" SONGS EXCEPT "LOVE ME DO" AND "P.S. I LOVE YOU". (the second batch of the black and gold labels corrected the publisher as "northern songs ltd.").

THE VINYL ON THIS DISC IS ASTONISHING AS WELL, GRADING MINT MINUS, WITH FLAWLESS, DEEP-GLOSS PLAYING SURFACES WHICH APPEAR "AS NEW" IN STRONG DAYLIGHT. CLOSER EXAMINATION DIRECTLY BENEATH HALOGEN LIGHT REVEALS JUST A FEW WISPY MICRO-HAIRLINES FROM THE INNER-SLEEVE. THE SOUND THROUGHOUT THIS SUPERBLY PRESERVED COPY IS FLAWLESS WITH A CLARITY AND PRESENCE MISSING FROM EVERY OTHER ISSUE OF THIS ALBUM. BOTH RUN-INS AND ALL BANDS ARE SILENT AND THERE IS NO TRACE OF ANY GROOVE/PLAYWEAR IN EITHER CHANNEL OF ANY TRACK. THIS MUST BE ONE OF THE BEST SURVIVING COPIES IN EXISTENCE.  THE TRAIL OFF MARKINGS INDICATE THAT THIS RECORD WAS INDEED THE VERY FIRST PRESSING GENERATED:

SIDE ONE MATRIX: "YEX 94-1".  SIDE 2 MATRIX: "YEX 95-1".
SIDE ONE STAMPERS: "1-R".  SIDE 2 STAMPERS: "1-G".
The RAISED embossed "M Z T" tax code is stamped around the centER of the Side 1 record label.

THE DISC IS ACCOMPANIED BY THE ORIGINAL "USE EMITEX" POLY-LINED INNER DUST SLEEVE, IN SOLID AND CRISP NEAR MINT MINUS CONDITION WITH some natural factory creasing.  NO SPLITS.

This AMAZINGLY PRESERVED example could not disappoint any Serious Collector. RARELY offered in this condition, AND without doubt, THIS RECORD IS the most COLLECTIBLE and SOUGHT AFTER UK Beatles album in existence today.