John Lennon-Sings The Great Rock & Roll Hits-Vinyl LP-Beatles AUTHENTIC & RARE

$

710

 Roots: John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits

This is the rare mail-order album issued by Adam VIII consisting of rough mixes of Lennon's Rock 'n' Roll album.
It was available through television sale for three days in January 1975 before Lennon and Apple/EMI pulled it off the market.
Lennon then rush-released his "official" version in February 1975.
There were 3000 pressed, but only 1270 sold!

The Roots album was one of the strangest events in Lennon’s career. First, some background:

After John Lennon paid homage to Chuck Berry by quoting two lines from Berry’s hit “You Can’t Catch Me” in the 1969 Beatles hit “Come Together,” the owner of the publishing rights, Morris Levy, sued for infringement. Levy won an initial judgment, and as part of the settlement, Lennon agreed to record three songs that were owned by Levy’s publishing house, Big Seven Music.

In 1973, Lennon began recording a collection of rock ’n’ roll oldies with producer Phil Spector. After the sessions broke down, Lennon moved on. He returned to the project, without Spector’s involvement, in late 1974. Most of the tracks from these sessions would finally see official release in 1975 on Apple Records under the name Rock ’n’ Roll.

Somewhere during this process, Levy claimed that Lennon had agreed to allow this collection of oldies to be released on Levy’s mail-order label, Adam VIII Ltd., as further settlement to the “You Can’t Catch Me” lawsuit.

Eventually, a court ruled that no such agreement existed, and that Levy had no right to release the album, which he called John Lennon Sings the Great Rock ’n’ Roll Hits: Roots. Before that, it was very briefly advertised on independent TV stations in early 1975, but the ads stopped after a quick cease-and-desist order from Capitol/Apple. According to court documents, exactly 1,270 copies of Roots were sold.

But be forewarned: Roots has been counterfeited. So you will have to prove that yours is original. Here are the three best ways to do so:

1. Check the spine. All original copies have the word “Great” as part of the title. Many of the counterfeits have the word “Greatest” instead of “Great” on the spine.

2. Check the inner sleeve. I hope you saved it, because all authentic copies came with a printed inner sleeve. None of the fake copies have this; they have generic white sleeves.

3. Check the ad for the “Soul Train” album on the back cover. The counterfeits tend to have blurry, almost unreadable, print on that ad, whereas on the original, it is crisp and clear.

Track Listing

1. "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (Tex Davis, Gene Vincent) – 2:39
2. "Ain't That a Shame" (Fats Domino, Dave Bartholomew) – 2:38
   • Contains a longer fadeout than the Rock 'n' Roll version
3. "Stand by Me" (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller, Ben E. King) - 3:26
   • Without the strings added to the official release
4. "Sweet Little Sixteen" † (Chuck Berry) – 3:01
5. "Medley: Rip It Up/Ready Teddy" (Robert 'Bumps' Blackwell, John Marascalco) – 1:33
6. "Angel Baby" † (Rosie Hamlin) - 3:42
   • Not officially released until the 1986 compilation Menlove Ave.
7. "Do You Wanna Dance?" (Bobby Freeman) – 3:15
8. "You Can't Catch Me" † (Chuck Berry) – 4:51
   • The Rock 'n' Roll version was stretched to – 4:51 by repeating the first verse

1. "Bony Moronie" † (Larry Williams) – 3:47
2. "Peggy Sue" (Jerry Allison, Norman Petty, Buddy Holly) – 2:06
3. "Medley: Bring It On Home to Me/Send Me Some Lovin'" (Sam Cooke)/ (John Marascalco, Leo Price) – 3:41
4. "Slippin' and Slidin'" (Eddie Bocage, Albert Collins, Richard Wayne Penniman, James H. Smith) – 2:20
   • Contains a longer fadeout than the Rock 'n' Roll version
5. "Be My Baby" † (Phil Spector/Ellie Greenwich/Jeff Barry) – 4:32
   • Not officially released until the 1998 John Lennon Anthology
6. "Ya Ya" (Lee Dorsey, Clarence Lewis, Morgan Robinson) – 2:17
7. "Just Because" † (Lloyd Price) – 4:25

Payment is expected within 7 days unless other arrangements are made PRIOR to auction end.

 S&H within the United States is $3.99. International bidders please contact for shipping prices. Any international bidders with items over $75 will require Registered Mail shipping, which usually costs between $10-15.

But be forewarned: Roots has been counterfeited. So you will have to prove that yours is original. Here are the three best ways to do so:

1. Check the spine. All original copies have the word “Great” as part of the title. Many of the counterfeits have the word “Greatest” instead of “Great” on the spine.

2. Check the inner sleeve. I hope you saved it, because all authentic copies came with a printed inner sleeve. None of the fake copies have this; they have generic white sleeves.

3. Check the ad for the “Soul Train” album on the back cover. The counterfeits tend to have blurry, almost unreadable, print on that ad, whereas on the original, it is crisp and clear.

But be forewarned: Roots has been counterfeited. So you will have to prove that yours is original. Here are the three best ways to do so:

1. Check the spine. All original copies have the word “Great” as part of the title. Many of the counterfeits have the word “Greatest” instead of “Great” on the spine.

2. Check the inner sleeve. I hope you saved it, because all authentic copies came with a printed inner sleeve. None of the fake copies have this; they have generic white sleeves.

3. Check the ad for the “Soul Train” album on the back cover. The counterfeits tend to have blurry, almost unreadable, print on that ad, whereas on the original, it is crisp and clear.

 To answer this question that has been asked a few times, please be advised that this is what is contained in the "Dead Wax" portion of the record:

Side 1: "A8018A" with "Bell Sound" etched in italics. Side 2: "A8018B" with "Bell Sound" etched in italics.

Please feel free to email with any other questions. Thanks for the interest and good luck!