THE BEATLES. SGT PEPPERS. EXCELLENT. FIRST PRESS. YELLOW & BLACK- WIDE-SPINE.

	£		23
	$		30

PMC 7027 

Side One YEX 637 – 1     Side Two YEX 638 – 1

An Excellent First Pressing on the original Yellow & Black Parlophone Label.

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, by The Beatles. Released in 1967, pressed in 1967 and owned by one person until now and in the much preferred Mono! The Beatles and George Martin were directly involved in the Mono Master Mix, which is very different from the later Stereo, which they were not directly involved with, hence the fact that these Mono recordings are much sought after! 

Sgt Pepper First Pressings were all on the Yellow & Black Parlophone Label and whilst some had the 'flame' (red & white) inner sleeve, many didn't, as with this LP.  The labels on First Pressings have, ''The Gramophone Co Ltd''  at 9 o'clock, running around the rim of the label and they have, ''Sold in the UK Subject to Price Conditions, See Price Lists'', running along the centre of the labels, below the large yellow Parlophone. As with this, First Press, there is a Tax Code, with two letters on ether side of the spindle hole, being 'KT'. That is what a First Press 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' LP should have and this does, making it a First Press.

Second Pressings are a give-away as they do not have a tax code and they, oddly, omitt ''A Day in the Life'' on the Side Two label. The thrid Pressing is totally different and is the One Box Silver & Black EMI label, due to an internal re-organisation of EMI. Then followed the Two Box EMI labels and so on. To find a genuine First Pressing Yellow & Black Parlophone Label in Mono and with the slightly wider spine and in Excellent Condition Plus-Plus and with the 'one owner' tag, is rare and this is what makes this superb album a real collectors item!

The usual EMI factory codes are evident in this excellent copy, with the Matrix for Side One being YEX - 637 - 1. Its Mother or Positive dye number is '2' and the Stamper is 'RDR', which translates to '202'. The Matrix on Side Two is YEX - 638 - 1 and the Mother is '4', with the Stamper or dye, being 'GHT' or '179'. You will see an example of a genuine Mother above in the photos; this from EMI. It is stainless steel coated, copper, acetate, cut from the orgiginal Master Tape. There were a number of Mothers used and it was common for the Mothers to be of differing numbers, so, too with the Stampers, which would wear out pretty quickly and were often replaced. The photo of the mould above, is that which has been cast from the Mother and which the Stamper is to be cast it. Quite simply this mould is a Positive, taken from the Mother, which produces teh negative lacquer or vinyl.

This record is a nice, genuine example of a First Press, which has the white inner sleeve and the Cardboard Cut-outs, which are in mint condition and thankfully 'not' cut-out! The laminated sleeve is in excellent condition, too, showing a little sign of use and of course 46 years plus of exposure to the atmosphere. The vinyl is shiny and still retains a nice dark lustre and has just a few hairlines, but little spindle wear.

I hate using the Record Collector's Guide and too many on Eaby both use it and hide behind it, but I would say, looking and listening to it, that this is pretty much excellent, with signs of use, but it plays well and has that lovely mono sound.

MINT: The record itself is in brand new condition with no surface marks or deterioration in sound quality. The cover and any extra items such as the lyric sheet, booklet or poster are in perfect condition. Records advertised as Sealed or Unplayed should be Mint.

EXCELLENT: The record shows some signs of having been played, but there is very little lessening in sound quality. The cover and packaging might have slight wear and / or creasing.

VERY GOOD: The record has obviously been played many times, but displays no major deterioration in sound quality, despite noticeable surface marks and the occasional light scratch. Normal wear and tear on the cover or extra items, without any major defects, is acceptable.

GOOD: The record has been played so much that the sound quality has noticeably deteriorated, perhaps with some distortion and mild scratches. The cover and contents suffer from folding, scuffing of edges, spine splits, discolouration, etc.

FAIR: The record is still just playable but has not been cared for properly and displays considerable surface noise; it may even jump. The cover and contents will be torn, stained and / or defaced.

POOR: The record will not play properly due to scratches, bad surface noise, etc. The cover and contents will be badly damaged or partly missing.

BAD: The record is unplayable or might even be broken, and is only of use as a collection filler."

As well as the above grades, Near Mint is often used as well; this is really for a record that appears new but is known to have been played because the label has light spindle marks or because it has come from a previous owner and is assumed to have been played by them. For records which appear to fall between the accepted grades, + and - are also often added to the grading.

In addition to the basic grading, any individual faults should be noted separately such as if an otherwise Excellent cover has a name written on it, or a 7" single is missing its original centre etc.

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