At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP

Posted on October 13, 2013 by beatlesblogger

I have had in the collection for some time now a record that I thought was an original US pressing of the Beatles Let It Be.

You know the one. It comes in a gatefold cover, red Apple label on the vinyl, catalogue number AR 34001, red Apple on the rear cover:

The copy I have had for oh, maybe 30 years, looked genuine enough. That is until I read that this is one of the most counterfeited vinyl records of all time…..

When I started to look into it some more I discovered that what I had in my collection was actually a fake.

And it was only two weeks ago, after finally picking up a genuine copy at a record fair, that I could conduct a side-by-side analysis to spot the differences. Here are the tell-tale signs.

Firstly a close-up of the real cover:

And here is the illegal copy:

As you can see the skin tones on the photo of George Harrison are much more grainy on the fake. Also notice the white borders around each photo. They are much thicker on the counterfeit.

Next, a close-up of the red Apple label. The genuine copy is first, the fake is second:

Though this is not a definitive decider, the counterfeit label I have lacks vibrancy. It is washed out and dull. Some stock of legitimate pressings may also have a duller appearance – depending on which Capitol plant they were pressed.

The best proof that you have a legitimate copy is in the run-out area of the vinyl itself. There should be the words “Bell Sound” stamped there on both sides (the fake will not have this). It’s difficult to photograph but here goes. First, Side 1:

And Side 2:

Genuine Let It Be pressings with the red Apple were mastered at Bell Sound by a guy named Sam Feldman and that’s why you can see his initials “sf” scratched into the vinyl above. Fakes don’t have that Bell Sound stamp, but the people who made the illegal copies did try to imitate the originals by including the “sf” initials too.

Furthermore, depending on the Capitol pressing plant they originate from, legitimate pressings will have either the letters “IAM” in a triangle (Scranton PA), an asterisk (Los Angeles CA), or a mark that is supposed to resemble a rifle (Winchester VA). One of these will be stamped somewhere in the run-out area of the vinyl. It should be properly machine stamped on both sides.

As you can see, mine is from the Scranton plant so it looks like this:The fakers tried to imitate this too – but it they did just a crude drawing which you can see here:

(By the way, the “IAM” in the triangle stands for the International Association of Machinists Union whose workers ran the pressing plant).

FYI, here is a handy list of the markings from each of the Capitol pressing plants: screen-shot-2022-04-18-at-5.27.19-pm It was Sam Feldman who also scribbled the words “Phil + Ronnie” on the dead wax. This was for Phil Spector (who produced Let It Be) and his wife, singer Ronnie Spector:

Non-legitimate copies also have “Phil + Ronnie” scratched in the play-out area of the disc but the writing is much smaller.

So that’s it. Your guide to real and fake copies of Let It Be.

The Beatles Tune In – Lewisohn’s New Book Out Today

Posted on October 9, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Volume One of Mark Lewisohn’s new biography of the Beatles is out in the UK today.

The book is called The Beatles: All These Years – Volume One: Tune In. The marketing people have come up with a catch-phrase: Throw away what you think you know and start afresh.

It may well be true.

We’ll know more when we see the book for ourselves – but early reports and reviews are good. They’re saying that there is “….a surprise on every page, a revelation in every second chapter.”

At the moment on the book’s official homepage they are running seven read extracts from the audio edition. Here they are collected on SoundCloud for you:

All These Years – Introduction (Read by Mark Lewisohn)
All These Years – Extract Two (Jim McCartney warns his son Paul that John Lennon will get him into trouble. Read by Mark Lewisohn)
All These Years – Extract Three (The decisive moment in John’s separation from both his father and mother. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Four (John and Paul meet for the first time. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Five (John and Paul welcome young George Harrison’s talents into the mix. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Six (Paul is growing up fast, and 1958 draws to a colourful close. Read by Clive Mantle)
All These Years – Extract Seven (Pete Best is unwell so the Beatles grab Ringo Starr as temporary deputy – and enjoy the difference. Read by Clive Mantle)

See also Mark Lewisohn on YouTube (three short videos) talking about the background to the book, and the different versions which will be available.

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

Posted on October 7, 2013 by beatlesblogger

OK, to kick off Part 20 in our series a couple of photographs of the Beatles with records which are going to be tough to solve.

Here Paul is standing in front of a display. The thing is these record covers are all not immediately recognisable as they seem to be from other countries. They would all be from the 1960s. Does anyone have any idea what these discs might be?

And this one below of John – is that an LP to his left (our right)? This appears to be a photograph taken while the artists known as The Fool give one of John’s pianos a very special paint job. Amongst other things The Fool designed the original inner sleeve for Sgt Pepper, and they did the huge mural which adorned the outside of the Apple Boutique clothing shop in London.

Back to the photo. Is this an LP record cover? You can clearly make out what looks to be the word “Velvet…..”. Or could it be a poster?

Let us know if you have any further info on this one.

Now onto some easier-to-solve Beatles With Records photos. Firstly to Paul and Linda with a copy of Press to Play, his sixth solo studio album, released August 1986.

I really don’t know what the occasion is below – Yoko is photographed with a group of young men, one of whom is in a Beatle jacket, and another who is holding up a copy of John’s “legal obligation” disc called John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits (which later, and with much better sound, appeared on Apple Records as Rock ‘n’ Roll):You can read the full story about how this album came into being here. It’s a long and complicated tale….

These next photographs are very similar (but taken at a different event) to those photos you may have seen in Part 14 where Paul McCartney is swamped by waiting fans eager for him to sign LP covers.

In the two photos above I can make out at least ten albums, beginning at the top:

If you can see any others let us know.

And yet again, another flock of fans hoping for a signature but this time at a different location:

I can make out these titles:

Signings for their fans have always been something the Beatles as a band (and as solo artists) have always embraced. Here’s another of Paul – this time autographing a copy of Wings at the Speed of Sound from 1976:This one of George Harrison doesn’t have any records in view (except for the indistinguishable 45 actually on the turntable) – but it has a cool little record player though….and it’s a great shot of George: One final photo to finish off this installment….obviously taken at the quality control room at the EMI plant in 1965:

A big thank you to Andrey in Russia for most of these images. You can see the other parts in The Beatles with Records series here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17,18 and 19.

Garage Sale Beatles 45’s

Posted on September 19, 2013 by beatlesblogger

It’s not often you see 7-inch, 45rpm Beatles vinyl for sale at garage sales anymore. There are occasionally one or two, but they are now getting few and far between.

That’s why I was surprised this week when I asked after records at a local garage sale and the guy went into his house and brought out crate after crate of the small, vinyl gems. He had literally hundreds of 45’s – all pop and rock artists ranging from the 60s, 70’s and 80’s.
It took me quite a while to look through them all but the task produced a couple of nice items. Some I already owned, but others I didn’t have in my collection – so it was very worthwhile.

Here’s what came out of crates (in release date chronological order). First up, an Extended Play – four songs – from A Hard Day’s Night (1964):

Then came a copy of the Beatles Rock and Roll Music single (1965):

These next few have the release date displayed on the label:

This next one, Yoko Ono’s Walking on Thin Ice (1981) comes in a picture cover:

All the above are Australian pressings (except the John and Yoko Happy Xmas which is British). There was though one odd item in the crates. It was just the sleeve (no record inside unfortunately) of a French EP from 1964 with four songs:

I’ll keep it – in the hope of finding the correct record to go inside it one day….

At John Lennon’s House – A New e-Book Translation

Posted on September 16, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A couple of weeks ago we were contacted by a Spanish publishing company called Hércules de Ediciones. They’ve just released an e-Book called At John Lennon’s House, by a woman named Rosaura López Lorenzo.

Rosaura was born in Spain but became the Lennon’s housekeeper at the Dakota Building in New York – a job she did for just on four years.

It should be said up-front that in writing this book financial profit was the last thing on Rosaura’s mind. She says on more than one occasion that she’s not doing it for any ulterior motives. After all, Rosaura kept her unique story quiet for nearly 25 years. It was only following a chance meeting with the journalist who helped her write down her story that she finally agreed to share her experiences with the rest of the world.

John Lennon's House-tiff

When Rosaura first began work in Apartment 72 in the Dakota building she was completely unaware of the real significance and impact of Beatlemania. As a result she writes in a totally unaffected manner, and genuinely from the heart. She also says that she had Yoko Ono’s blessing to tell her story, and you have to believe her – such is her honesty in recounting what she experienced working in the Lennon’s Dakota apartments. Yes, that’s plural. One of the things we learn is that they owned and occupied at least four separate dwellings in the building. Here’s a photograph of Rosaura standing outside the Dakota:

Many people would know about John’s time in the US in the late 70s. He’d retreated from public life. He’d all but retired from the music business. He was living happily and quietly in New York, bringing up his new baby son Sean, baking bread, and living the simple life. And we learn that it was Rosaura who taught him how to bake. Born and raised in the Spanish town of Pontevedra in Galicia, she grew up in a bakery and really knew what she was doing. She recalls John saying that making bread to the ancient European tradition made him feel calm and peaceful. It’s simple observations like these which make this book so intriguing and endearing.

At the back of the book are many pages filled with photographs of Rosaura Lopez and her family. There are postcards and Christmas cards sent to her over the years by the Lennon’s. And there are many photographs of her interacting with John, Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon, too.

Rosaura left the employ of John and Yoko abruptly, shortly before John’s murder in 1980. She says she was sacked by Yoko after a vicious spate of rumours spread about her by another nanny keen to get her own relatives employed in the house. Rosaura didn’t get the chance to explain or defend herself for eight years. It was a chance meeting on the streets of New York which brought her face-to-face once again with Yoko. That meeting opened the opportunity for a rapprochement. Later that day the two got to talk for hours and to finally make good a wrongful dismissal. This part of the story is told in full in the book.

Rosaura’s memoir has been available since 2005, but only in Spanish (as En Casa de John Lennon):This new English e-Book translation will bring her story to many new readers. In the hundreds of thousands of words written about John Lennon here is a genuinely new and different examination from someone on the very inside of the Lennon household.

I have been browsing through the book and enjoying it a lot. It’s a very interesting and sweet little book and not at all voyeuristic. Rosaura has achieved an honest and open account of a unique period in her life – working for one of the most famous families in the world. She does it with integrity. It is well worth a read.

If you have Apple iBooks you can download At the House of John Lennon in English at iTunes here.

It is also available as a Kindle book on Amazon here.

McCartney Impromptu A cappella Version of “New”

Posted on September 15, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Just uploaded to the official McCartney YouTube site.

Track listing and producers for the New album have also been announced.

And there’s something New happening here….

On Air – Live at the BBC Vol. 2

Posted on September 14, 2013 by beatlesblogger

Finally the official Beatles site has announced the release on CD of On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2. It will be coming out on 11 November this year. Looks like this title will be issued in a tri-fold digipak sleeve:

Rumour has been rife for some weeks on blog posts like the trusty WogBlog – which is usually first and most accurate with these things. Check out his site for the very latest on this release, including very detailed track listings.

There is now a nice teaser video on YouTube:

The first BBC recordings officially released back in 1994 (Live at the BBC) will be re-issued on the same date in a matching remastered and re-packaged form – also in a Digipak sleeve:

Lewisohn’s New Beatles Book – One Month to UK Release

Posted on September 11, 2013 by beatlesblogger

It is one month today until the official UK release of respected Beatle historian, Mark Lewisohn’s first volume in his three-part complete history of the band.

Volume One is called The Beatles All These Years: Tune In.

Hmmm. Still not sure about that cover.

There are three videos about All These Years: Tune In on YouTube – the first a short introduction to the book:

The second a longer interview with Lewisohn about why he wrote the book and why it is important:

The third explains where the book begins:

There will be two versions in the UK. The “trade” or standard, single book edition of 960 pages, and a deluxe, extended edition across two books totalling 1728 pages and featuring many extra words and photographs. The special edition consists of “….two individual hardbacks printed on New Langely Antique Wove wood free paper, with red-and-white head and tail bands and red ribbon marker. The two books will sit within a specially designed box and lid featuring soft touch and varnish finishes.” Both are published by Little Brown.

Then there will be the US edition – just a single volume of 944 pages has been announced so far and with a different cover:

The book comes out in the USA on October 29 and is published by Crown Archetype, a subsidiary of Random House.

It looks like it’ll be a landmark publication – one I’ll be keen to read and have in the collection.

Our First Four – A Very Collectable First Apple Release

Posted on September 8, 2013 by beatlesblogger

One of the reasons I got into this Beatles collecting caper, apart from a love of the music, was that I became fascinated by the band setting up their very own record label – Apple Records.

The Beatles were amongst the first, if not the first, band to do so and (apart from themselves) they signed up an eclectic range of artists to the label.

Their very first releases were marked by the issuing of a limited edition press kit of the first four 45rpm vinyl singles to come out on Apple – which they called “Our First Four”.

In the UK there seems to have been two versions of this.

One was in a stronger, hard plastic outer case. Examples of this version were very limited, and these were hand-delivered to dignitaries like Stanley Gortikov, President of Capitol Records in 1968; to Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace; to her sister Princess Margaret at Kensington Palace; to the Queen Mother at St James’s Palace; and to the then British Prime Minister Harold Wilson at Number 10 Downing Street, London. The plastic box set looked like this:

The other, lower cost version was posted to radio disc jockeys, music journalists and critics. It was in a cheaper, thin black cardboard box.

Both versions contained four singles: The Beatles “Hey Jude/Revolution” (R 5722); Mary Hopkin “Those Were the Days” (APPLE 2); Jackie Lomax “Sour Milk Sea” (APPLE 3); and The Black Dyke Mills Band “Thingumybob” (APPLE 4).

Each single was accompanied by a press release printed on the outside of a coloured folder containing an artist photo and a plastic sleeve to hold the record.

The reason for this post is that a copy of the cardboard “Our First Four” has just sold on Ebay for an impressive AU$6,199 (that’s US$5,700, or £3,643 UK Pounds).

The price it fetched is testament to it’s rarity. And as it is not often seen (and because the listing had such a good selection of photos of the item – showing in detail how the box worked and what was inside), I couldn’t resist reproducing a selection of them here:The Beatles official site has reproduced a nice press advertisement for “Our First Four”.

In the United States the press kit mailed to DJ’s and music journos was perhaps a little less colourful and extravagant, but its contents were definitely as interesting (and collectable). Respected Beatle writer and discographer Bruce Spizer has a great article on the background to this one:

If you had a lazy six grand lying around would you purchase one of these?

A New Beatles Book – Beatles With an A: Birth of a Band

Posted on August 31, 2013 by beatlesblogger

A brand new hard-back book about the Beatles arrived at Beatles Blog this week – and it came all the way from Finland.

Beatles with an A: Birth of a Band is the newest creation of bestselling Finnish author and illustrator Mauri Kunnas. It’s an “unauthorised biography” in the form of a graphic novel telling the story of the band’s humble beginnings – like it’s never been seen or heard before.

The book follows the Beatles and a full cast of mates and family members as they make their way from the Casbah to the Cavern Club, from empty halls in the Highlands to the packed clubs of Hamburg, through every name and line-up change until their first Number One song (Please Please Me from 1963).

Mauri has been a fan for 50 years, and his thorough research and love for the band shines throughout the story with its amazing details, hilarious tales, and some raunchy bits, too.

You can sample seven or so pages here if you’d like, or another five slightly different pages here.

Thanks to Otava Publishing for sending this very interesting and different Beatles biography through. You can order it here. The book is produced in a high quality hardback format with good, old-fashioned production values and a dash of style. Very nice.

Beatles Blog

Adventures in collecting Beatles music

Category Archives: Beatles Collecting

At Last – A Genuine US “Let It Be” LP

The Beatles Tune In – Lewisohn’s New Book Out Today

The Beatles With Records – Part Twenty

McCartney Impromptu A cappella Version of “New”

On Air – Live at the BBC Vol. 2

Lewisohn’s New Beatles Book – One Month to UK Release

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