FRANK SINATRA Festival Hall LP 1971 1st Press UNKNOWN / UNRELEASED TEST PRESS

	£		52
	$		69

On offer here is a VERY rare LP (especially in this condition!!!!) by Frank Sinatra called "Festival Hall" and is an ORIGINAL 1971 UK White label TEST pressing!!!!  THIS LP IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND!!!!  THIS IS UNDOUBTEDLY FRANK SINATRA'S RAREST LP ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TODAY!!!!  IN FACT DESPITE ENDLESS SEARCHING - I CAN FIND NO EVIDENCE OF IT EXISTING, OR EVER BEING RELEASED!!!!  HERE ARE THE DETAILS ABOUT THIS LP I DO KNOW:-

1)  IT IS CLEARLY A UK WHITE LABEL TEST PRESSING - AND IS A RECORDING OF FRANK SINATRA AT THE 'ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL' IN LONDON IN 1971.

2) IT IS CLEARLY AN EARLY 1970s VINYL - AND DEFINITELY DATES FROM THAT PERIOD (IT IS NOT LATER!).  IF I HAD TO PUT A DATE ON IT - I WOULD SAY 1971 (THE SAME YEAR AS THE CONCERT).

3) IT IS STAMPED IN THE RUN OFF GROOVES 'FAS-1-1' AND 'FAS-2-1'.  WITH THE 'FAS' CLEARLY STANDING FOR 'FRANCIS ALBERT SINATRA'.

4) I CAN NO EVIDENCE OF THIS LP EVER BEING RELEASED - NOR DO THE STAMPED MATRIXES MATCH ANY OF FRANK SINATRA'S RELEASED LPs.

5) THERE ARE 7 TRACKS ON EACH SIDE - THATS 14 TRACKS IN ALL.

6) ITS CLEARLY A LIVE LP.

7) THERE ARE VARIOUS ANNOTATIONS ON THE PLAIN WHITE 'TEST PRESS' COVER - INCLUDING THE DETAILS OF THE LP, THE DAY & MONTH OF TEST PRESSING (BUT ANNOYINGLY NO YEAR DATE!), AND ALSO 'CANCELLED' WRITTEN ACROSS THE DETAILS.  HOWEVER, I HAVE HAVE NO WAY OF VERIFYING ANY OF THESE DETAILS.

8) THE LAST NUMBER OF THE 'HANDWRITTEN' DATE ON ONE LABEL HAS BEEN CHANGED.  HERE I THINK THE ORIGINAL DATE WAS WRITTEN OF THE YEAR THIS TEST PRESSING WAS MADE - AND SOMEONE CORRECTED IT TO THE YEAR THIS 'FESTIVAL HALL' CONCERT WAS RECORDED.  EITHER WAY THIS IS CLEARLY FROM THE EARLY 1970s.  AND ACTUALLY THE 1970 DATE IS WRONG - AS FRANK SINATRA PERFORMED AT THE ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL IN LONDON IN 1971.  SO THE CONCERT (AND MOST LIKELY THIS TEST PRESSING TOO - WILL BE CLOSE TO THAT DATE).

9) THE STAMPED MATRIXES AND THE SHAPE OF THE LABELS STRONGLY SUGGEST THIS WAS AN EMI TEST PRESSING.

10) MOST IMPORTANTLY THIS APPEARS TO BE A RECORDING OF FRANK SINATRA AT THE 'ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL' IN LONDON IN 1971.  SO PERHAPS A UK RECORD COMPANY RECORDED IT AND DIDNT GET PERMISSION TO RELEASE IT????

AND THATS IT!!!!  THATS ALL I KNOW!!!!  CLEARLY THIS LP WAS CANCELLED OR REMAINED UNRELEASED THOUGH - AS THE MATRIXES ARE CLEARLY PRIVATE (FRANK SINATRA'S INITIALS) AND ALSO THEY DON'T MATCH ANY OF HIS RELEASED LPs!!!!  SO PERHAPS A LIVE RECORDING DEEMED NOT GOOD ENOUGH AT THE TIME????  AND THE EARLY 1970s WERE CLEARLY A PERIOD WHERE FRANK SINATRA WASNT SELLING IN THE SAME VOLUMES AS PREVIOUSLY - SO IT IS LIKELY THIS LP WAS DUE FOR RELEASE, AND SIMPLY CANCELLED.  EITHER WAY - IT IS THE ALL TIME RAREST FRANK SINATRA LP ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD TODAY, AND ALMOST CERTAINLY UNIQUE!!!!

The record labels are in SUPERB condition (see pictures) with NO wear, NO writing, and barely ANY spindle marks AT ALL!!!!  IT IS VERY CLEAR THAT THIS RECORD HAS BARELY BEEN PLAYED AT ALL!!!!  The vinyl is in absolutely BRILLIANT condition!!!!  Most of these 60s/70s LPs had been to a lot of wild parties and are usually found totally worn out, and almost unplayable. This one is NOT and has NO scratches, only 2 or 3 MEGA light hairline traces, NO scufflines, and only a VERY few of the lightest paper scuffs only visible under light!!!!  ITS AS SIMPLE AS THAT!!!!  THE RECORD STILL RETAINS ITS ORIGINAL 'JUST PRESSED' LOOK AND LOOKS SUPERB!!!!  It is also great to find that the record plays as STUNNINGLY as the visual with NO pops, barely ANY clicks AT ALL, NO sticking, NO jumps, and barely ANY crackle AT ALL!!!!  The sound quality is simply SUPERB with barely ANY distortion AT ALL and NO groovewear either!!!!  The record must grade Very Good++++ if not better!!!!  BRILLIANT RECORD!!!!  Believe me this record is NOT overgraded in ANY way!!!!  I use STRICT RC grading standards - it is not in my interest not to!!!! Brillant!!!!  The record also comes in its ORIGINAL inner sleeve which is in BRILLIANT condition!!!!  The ORIGINAL 1st Press TEST PRESS Plain White Cover is in BRILLIANT condition!!!!  It has NO edge wear, NO spinal wear, NO splits, only VERY slight corner wear (NOT through the colour!), NO edge splits, NO rips, NO tears, only a VERY few light creases (cover is VERY flat looking!), and NO sticker tears!!!!  The opening edge is beautifully straight with barely ANY feathering AT ALL!!!!  Even the back of the cover is in BRILLIANT condition with NO grubbyness, NO yellowing, and NO writing!!!!  The cover must grade Very Good++++ if not better!!!!  BRILLIANT COVER!!!!  THIS LP IS SERIOUSLY RARE AND VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND LIKE THIS (THIS HAS TO BE THE RAREST FRANK SINATRA LP EVER TO BE OFFERED FOR SALE - EVER!) - SO DONT MISS OUT ON THIS INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY!!!!

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Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items (I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!) - PLEASE REMEMBER to contact with me FIRST, if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy!  Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again - Graham @ XXXRecords.