This little item came into the collection last week:
It’s a one-sided 45rpm single with three tracks on the A side. These are as the label describes – three brief extracts of dialogue from the Beatles’ 1970 film Let It Be, which premiered in New York in May that year. We’ve been looking around on the internet for some further information on it.
Fab 4 Collectables (which is a really interesting site by the way) says that this disc was issued to fan club members, but as it states on the the label “Beatles Promo – 1970” you’d have to think it’s more likely a disc that was sent to radio stations to promote the Let It Be film which had only just been released in the United States. The dialogue was produced during the ill-fated recording and filming of the film in Twickenham studios in London in January, 1969.
The Apple By The Numbers site (no longer active) said that there are bootleg copies of this around: “….fakes exist which do not have machine stamped symbols in the matrix area of the run-out grooves. The original was on black vinyl. Fakes exist on colored vinyl. This record was made at Bell Sound Studios to promote the release of the Let It Be film documentary”. It was Bell Sound that pressed the official Let It Be LP for Apple Records in the USA.
This promo 45 here has symbols stamped in the run-out area, so I guess it could be an original. It says: “Promo 1970 . D – 1” then a symbol that looks like a circle within a circle, followed by a squiggle that looks like this: ˜ (all hand-written). As you can see, Apple is mentioned on the label, as is ABKCO, Allen Klein’s company which was managing the Beatles at the time.
It comes in a plain white sleeve, and the B-side is blank. There’s just a white label with no writing, and some groves stamped into the vinyl:
If anyone has any further information on this disc please leave a comment.
For other Let It Be posts see Label Variations – Part 2 ; Let It Be At 40 ; and At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP.
Beatles Blog 
Let it Be is a sad time. The dialogue illustrates the disintegration of the Beatles. There was a lot of these conversations, inside the book given away with the first issues of Let it Be.
I still have the book, but my big regret is throwing away the box. I knew it would be valuable to collectors, but I decided I would never sell the album, and the box was too big to keep in a bookcase or on record shelves.
John
Leamington Spa, England
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i have one in my collection which i picked up in the early 70s, for £5 which was worth a lot back in those days, i am suprised to see it is valued so low today
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to see my collection
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Did you ever find out if this record was in fact also sent to fan club members, and if so from what country? Or was it just a standard promotional record sent only to radio stations and the like.
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Nah, we never found out definitively. I get the strong feeling that it was more a release aimed purely at radio stations. It doesn’t strike me as a fan item at all. Being extracts from the LIB film, they were clearly hoping these would be played on air to get some publicity and “buzz” at the time.
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