Beatles Hard Day’s Night test pressing Capitol records,embossed letters label NM

$

76

This is a rare bird. I know there is at least one other out there . I’ve heard there were only a handful of these pressings . The last Beatles vinyl pressing of a Hard Days Hight 1989-1990. This took a lot of work. You’ll notice the embossed letters ETAS on label 2 I believe it is. This pressing was farmed out to Allied , but the embossed letters indicate Specialty Records in Pennsylvania . The deadwax reads SW-1-11921–G12 ( etched ) Mastered by Capitol ( stamped ) side one. SW-2-11921-G-11 ( etched ) Mastered by Capitol ( Stamped ) side two. There is also the Speciality logo in deadwax, A large S with small c ,and small r inside the loops of the S . The embossed letters indicate they were using Capitol Records metal parts for the pressing. I’ve not played it , as my amp is down, I’ve had it long enough, but it wasn’t till recently someone pointed out to me the embossed letters on label. When I bought it ,it came in just a plain white cover with handwriting on it, I dismissed that as it had no relevance at the time, I’m sure just technical mumbo jumbo , or pressing plate info. If I haven’t tossed it ,I’ll obviously send with the album. Since I discovered this anomaly, I’ve looked for others with these letters to no avail. It looks like a UK tax code on a UK Beatles album. The record is perfect, doesn’t look played, just the idea of passing hands kind of thing. I noticed the time on some songs were different than other pressings on UA and Capitol earlier pressings . It’s my understanding, and I may be mistaken but this pressing was just used to indicate what metal parts were used ( Capitol LA ) but that’s anecdotal. I would love to hear it, and if I have time I may take it to a high end audio store here in S.F. to see how good or bad it is. It is rare from all I could glean. I even called Specialty’s phone number , no reply , and didn’t sound like a pressing plant . Shipping USA $4.00 rest of world $14.00. If it gets a good price I’ll pay the insurance . Also ,if anyone knows anything about this that I have not covered in ad, please let me know.

I’m taking this album to a high end audio store tomorrow, and listen to it . I will get back to you after I’ve done so. From all I’ve read Capitol did a fold down for all the mono tracks , meaning this is a MONO record ,but apparently the instrumentals are Stereo. Stayed tuned . This is a rare bloody Beatles album, why are there hardly bids ?

Took record into a audio store today, not real high end, but certainly high end enough. Played album on Miracord Anniversary , and Rega Planar 3 ,which is what I have. Four people listening, all had same take on it. It sounded great, but everyone heard the same thing. Like on Paul’s solo vocal on And I Love Her, the voice was more prominent on left side, as were vocals on all songs, ( not the instrumentals, which were obvious stereo mixes. It wasn’t overwhelming, but sounded rather like it was not mono, and not Stereo . It was dead quiet . The impressive thing was, the tracks, vocals in particular were not buried in echo, and it didn’t sound compressed to the degree I’ve heard other Capitol Records . Needless to say,we played at a flat response . It was impressive, and the differences in the two channels were very subtle, but you were aware of the difference. Tried different table, and speakers ,same on all. The reason I never collected Capitol from my own frame of reference was the amount of echo they seemed to use on a lot of Beatles albums, and they also compressed the sound to distraction in my opinion. Obviously I’m trying to sell this for as much as possible, with that said, if what I’m suggesting here were not true it would be returned to me, that’s why I had four people listen to it on a very good system . As there were so many speakers plugged into the patch bay, I had a hard time figuring out which was which. In ANYBODY has this Capitol pressing of a Hard Day’s Night please write me, and tell me if yours sounds like what I described. Everything I’ve read suggests Capitol did a mono fold down from the Stereo tape . But I would think they would have balanced both sides exactly, then again I’m not an engineer, and the difference was noticeable, but very subtle, it didn’t distract at all. There you have it. I’ll have to dig through a lot of stuff to see if I retained the cardboard cover with handwritten notes. If I can find it, I’ll send it with album. Which will be in poly lined inner sleeve . One thing I can assure you, it sounds nothing like the Parlophone 64 mono. To me it sounded “close” to a flat transfer, which of course is impossible . We skipped the instrumentals. I can guarantee you ,it’s a great sounding record ,and quiet ...