MEGA-RARE U.K. PROTOTYPE LABEL VARIATION WITH "PARLOPHONE" AND  "£"  LOGO.

ALSO INCLUDES THE STANDARD "APPLE" LOGO ISSUED SET

"PARLOPHONE" LOGO LABEL SET CONDITION: NM / M- (UNPLAYED)
"APPLE" LOGO LABEL SET CONDITION: NM- / M- (UNPLAYED)

ITEM#: PAR301
PRICE: ------

DESCRIPTION
(ACTUAL IMAGES)

"Free as a Bird" is a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995, a studio version of the recording, incorporating contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, was released as a single by the Beatles. It was released 25 years after the break-up of the band and 15 years after the death of JOHN Lennon.

The single was released as part of the promotion for "The Beatles Anthology" video documentary and the band's "Anthology 1" compilation album. For the Anthology project, PAUL asked Yoko Ono for unreleased material by JOHN to which the three remaining Beatles could contribute. "Free as a Bird" was one of two such songs (along with "Real Love") for which PAUL, GEORGE, and RINGO contributed additional instrumentation, vocals, and arrangements. Jeff Lynne of Electric Light Orchestra, who had worked with GEORGE ON HIS album "Cloud Nine" and as part of the Traveling Wilburys, was asked to co-produce the record. George Martin, THE LEGENDARY BEATLES' PRODUCER, turned down an invitation to produce "Free as a Bird" due to hearing problems (though he subsequently managed to produce and direct the Anthology series). Harrison, in turn, suggested Lynne as producer and work commenced at PAUL'S studio in February 1994. Geoff Emerick and Jon Jacobs were chosen to engineer the new tracks. THE SINGLE WAS ISSUED IN ENGLAND ON DECEMBER 4, 1995, AND IN THE UNITED STATES ON DECEMBER 19.

THE BRITISH LABELS ARE A HIGH GLOSS BRUSHED SILVER LABEL WITH EMBOSSED BLACK PRINT, AS COMPARED TO THE united states issue of the creme-colored background green/split apple label backdrops. the side-loader picture sleeve issued in the u.k. is of glossy thin cardboard, as opposed to the thin paper style made in the u.s.  the art design is identical on both the u.k and u.s. issues, yet the credits on the back of the sleeve do differ. the u.k. issue has "printed in u.k." and "emi records ltd." as opposed to the capitol records logo printed on the u.s. sleeves.

FAB 4 COLLECTIBLES proudly OFFERS THE U.K. MEGA-RARE PROTOTYPE FIRST LABEL VARIATION, HIGHLIGHTED BY THE "PARLOPHONE" COMPANY NAME AND THE CLASSIC "TRADE MARK" POUND STERLING LOGO "£". IT HAS BEEN VERIFIED THAT ONLY TWO OF THESE PROTOTYPE LABELS HAVE EVER SURFACED, THIS ONE BEING THE SECOND.  THIS parlophone logo LABEL VARIATION WAS SCRAPED IMMEDIATELY AND CHANGED TO THE "APPLE" LOGO FOR THE FINAL RELEASE OF THE BRITISH ISSUE OF THE SINGLE. THIS ULTRA-RARE LABEL ALSO HAS THE RUNNING TIME OF "(4.23)" ON THE A-SIDE "FREE AS BIRD" BENEATH THE TITLE, PRIOR TO THE COMPOSER CREDITS. THE RUNNING TIME TEXT WAS OMITTED ON THE STANDARD "APPLE" LOGO LABEL ISSUE.

THE RECORD IS IN MINT MINUS UNPLAYED CONDITION, AND ACCOMPANIED BY THE U.K. THIN CARDBOARD PICTURE SLEEVE IN NEAR MINT CONDITION.

also included is the set of the U.K. standard "apple" logo issue, with a near mint minus sleeve (a factory induced soft crease on bottom left area) and a mint minus unplayed record.