*BEATLES *INTRODUCING THE BEATLES* MONO VARIANT COVERS VINTAGE LP / SEALED*

$

39

Up for auction are Two Variant pressing of, Introducing The Beatles.  c.1964 Vee-Jay Records. [VJLP 1062]. 

First, Introducing The Beatles.  1964 Vee-Jay Records. [VJLP 1062]  With a photograph of the group in suits on the front cover (John Lennon, Paul McCartney sitting / George Harrison, Ringo Starr standing) and song listings on the back.  Record labels on both sides include multi-colored ring around album title, Vee-Jay logo, album number and song listings.  In original packaging the album jacket is in very good - condition, with minor surface rubbing, small amount of corner wear on lower right corner; initials on upper right corner; plain white inner sleeve.  Album is in excellent condition. 

Second is another issue of, Introducing The Beatles.  1964 Vee-Jay Records. [VJLP 1062].  Sealed.   This variant is a counterfeit of the album with a brown border around the front cover photo and with a lighter photo.  The song listing on the back is differing with the second side beginning with “P.S. I Love You”.  Excellent condition. 

Brief History of, Introducing The Beatles on Vee-Jay

By December of 1963, with the enormous success of The Beatles, the record industry was abuzz with the news that Capitol Records was preparing a massive publicity campaign to launch its release of I Want To Hold Your Hand and Meet The Beatles! In short, Beatlemania was about to reach U.S. shores. 

These events did not go unnoticed by Vee-Jay Records.  Vee-Jay had released two singles by the Beatles and that preliminary steps were taken during the past summer to release an album by the group. The Beatles status with Vee-Jay was no reconsidered.  Corporate minutes of early January 1964, indicate that Jay Lasker discussed the Beatles situation with attorney Walter Hofer, who represented both Vee-Jay and the Beatles. Apparently, he told Lasker that Vee-Jay had the rights to the four songs previously released on VJ 498 and VJ 522, but probably did not have the rights to the unissued songs previously slated for release on Introducing The Beatles. Although Vee-Jay viewed the release of a Beatles album as a calculated risk, it was decided to issue the album, as the company needed the money that the record would undoubtedly produce. Vee-Jay quickly discovered that ARP, Monarch and Southern Plastics still had the stampers for Introducing The Beatles that had been sent to the pressing plants the previous summer. In addition, there were 6,000 front covers slicks ready to be assembled onto album jackets.

With production, sales and distribution of the album running full speed ahead, Vee-Jay hit a road block on January 16, 1964:  Capitol obtained a temporary injunction prohibiting Vee-Jay from manufacturing or distributing Beatles records. Vee-Jay was also sued by Capitol's Beechwood Music subsidiary over the inclusion of the songs Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You on the album. When Vee-Jay resumed production of the album in February, these songs were replaced with Please Please Me and Ask Me Why.  Possibly, Vee-Jay wanted both versions of the album to have similar covers so that leftover Version One albums could be put in the distribution pipeline without attracting attention.

Front Cover for Introducing The  Beatles

The front cover of the album uses the Angus McBean color photograph that served as the cover of Parlophone's The Beatles'Hits EP, except that Vee-Jay chopped off the lower extremities of the boys and managed to reverse the negative. Thus, the members of the group are shown with their famous hair flowing in the wrong direction. The title of the album, appearing at the top of the jacket on two lines as "introducing... THE BEATLES," is followed by the phrase "ENGLANDS No. 1 VOCAL GROUP" to let the American public know of the group's popularity in their homeland.

The positioning of the slick on the stereo covers cuts off all of Paul's arms except for a sliver of his thumbs and exposes a white top banner with "STEREOPHONIC" centered in grey and the number SR 1062 in black in the upper right-hand corner.

Back Cover for Introducing The Beatles

Although this cover has no liner notes or pictures, it does list the song titles in thick black print in two columns. The VJ brackets logo is centered at the top of the cover above the title of the album, which appears in huge black letters. This simple cover variation, hereinafter referred to as the "Titles On Back" cover, is clearly the result of Vee-Jay's desire to get the album issued as quickly as possible. A review of the other Beatles albums in Vee-Jay's catalog, as well as Vee-Jay albums by other artists, shows that its albums normally had informative and attractive back covers.

*Please view my other auctions where I have up for bid additional Rare and Out-of-Print items*

Thank you for viewing this auction, please contact me if you have any questions or would like additional images.

I have been in the business of selling rare antiquarian signed and unsigned non-fiction and fiction books and other items for over thirty years. Each item I sell is guaranteed to be authentic. A Letter of Authenticity is available upon request for the high bidder. Each item is wrapped safely and securely for shipment. A confirmation e-mail will be sent as soon as the auction item(s) are mailed. **I will gladly combine shipping costs for more than one auction.**  *Will Gladly Ship World-Wide!!* Thank you again for viewing this auction Happy Holidays and good luck!! –John