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·      THE BEATLES - INTRODUCING THE BEATLES - ORIGINAL 1964 VEE JAY RECORDS MONO LP VJLP-1062 (VERSION #2, WHICH PLAYS 'PLEASE PLEASE ME' AND 'ASK ME WHY')

 

·      ORIGINAL U.S. PRESSING

 

·      ORIGINAL BLACK VEE JAY LABEL WITH MULTICOLORED SPECTRUM (“RAINBOW”) BAND ALONG THE LABEL’S EDGE AND “BRACKETS” VERSION OF THE LABEL (VEE JAY LOGO IS ENCAPSULED IN WHITE BRACKETS)

 

·      THIS IS THE ORIGINAL, AUTHENTIC, FIRST U.S. PRESSING; THIS IS NOT A REISSUE, AN IMPORT, OR A COUNTERFEIT PRESSING.

 

·      THICK, HEAVY CARDBOARD COVER WITH PHOTO SLICK PASTED OVER; CLEAR INSCRIPTION OF THE TITLE ON THE SPINE; THIS IS THE "TITLES" VERSION OF THE COVER (NOT THE AD-BACK OR BLANK-BACK VERSION)

 

·      ORIGINAL, THICK CARDBOARD COVER (AMERICAN STYLE)

 

·      THICK, HEAVY VINYL PRESSING

 

·      SPINDLE MARKS ON THE LABELS NOTED.

 

·      THE RECORD HAS 'AUDIOMATRIX' STAMP IN THE TRAIL-OFF VINYL (DEAD WAX) AREA, WHICH IS GENERALLY CONSIDERED A PROOF OF AUTHENTICITY OF THE FIRST PRESSING.

 

·      This album has NEVER been available on legitimate Compact Disc or in any other way, manner or format.

 

(►PLEASE SEE THE IMAGE OF THE COVER, LABEL OR BOTH, SHOWN BELOW)

(Note: this is a REAL image of the ACTUAL item you are bidding on. This is NOT a "recycled" image from our previous auction. What you see is what you’ll get.  GUARANTEED!)

 

 

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This album, of course, is the abbreviated version of the U.K. "Please Please Me" album. Capitol had passed on the Beatles for several months, before finally realizing what they had the rights to and elected to license their music starting with the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single. Before Capitol picked up the first rights option, Beatles music was licensed stateside to a small Chicago-based R&B label, Vee Jay. Originally slated for a July 1963 release, Vee Jay saw little public interest in the previous two singles they released, "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You" and chose to indefinitely delay release of the album. Other small independent labels picked up the licensing option for subsequent Beatle music, such as Swan Records releasing the "She Loves You" single. When Capitol finally took up their first-rights option starting with the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" single and Beatlemania took hold in the U.S., Vee Jay elected to finally release "Introducing the Beatles" in January 1964, choosing to deal with any potential legal consequences later in order to generate immediate revenue.

 

There are two versions of this album. A publishing dispute led to Vee Jay replacing "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" within a couple of months. Consequently, the version with "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" is the rarer of the two. Legal battles between Vee Jay and Capitol over 1964 finally resulted in a settlement where Vee Jay could continue to issue the album until October of that year, upon which the rights would revert back to Capitol. Capitol would go on to issue "The Early Beatles" in 1965, a further abbreviation of the British parent album. In fact, two songs from the UK "Please Please Me" wouldn't even be issued by Capitol on an LP until the 1980s.

 

Since "Introducing the Beatles" was cancelled, the album has been heavily counterfeited over the years, usually mastered from needledrop recordings of the originals, sounding quite inferior and tinny. Authentic Vee Jay releases, especially in mono, have a noticeably warm and loud sound; authenic stereo copies are true stereo mixes from the U.K. album. Also, no stereo version of a fake exists; although some covers of fakes say stereophonic across the top, all fakes are in mono.

 

There is much, much more to the story behind this album; more than I can provide here in the space given me to write this review. Bruce Spizer and Frank Daniels have done immense research and wrote excellent books on this album as well as the history of Vee Jay Records; highly recommended materials if you're interested in acquiring a copy of this album. There are also very good websites that offer a tutorial on how to tell a legitimate copy from a fake.

 

In the CD age, this album is unnecessary. On vinyl, it's a priceless artifact that will be a key part of your collection. Get both versions if you can (sure, sure...but first, you have to find yourself a non-existent CD version, which might take some time  :-)) -- op.ed.).

 

 (EXCERPT FROM AN ONLINE REVIEW BY RUSSELL NEWTON, ALL MUSIC GUIDE  /ALLMUSIC.COM/)

 

Who would have thought exactly 60 years ago that an album by four obscure Brits from a run-down port city where God said good night and fare-thee-well would make such a seismic mpact on the world of Rock music - actually music, in general - and become one of the record collectors' most coveted prizes? Well, here it is, in all its glory, the original US pressing of this album. Or, let me rephrase myself: THE GENUINE, authentic pressing of the second version of this album, in mono, with BRACKETS Vee-Jay logo, on a "colorband" Vee-Jay label. All the elements of the genuine "Introducing the Beatles" album are here: Crisp and clear contours of the Fab Four on the front cover; nice and clearly legible spine with the title and serial number inscription; short dead wax (trail-off vinyl), title and name of the band BOTH above the spindle hole,Audiomatrix stamp in dead wax, dark cardboard on which the cover was pasted, etc. This is ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED authentic VEE JAY pressing of this album.

 

TO SEE IF WE HAVE OTHER LISTED ITEMS BY THIS GROUP OR ARTIST ► 

 

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·                          CONDITION:

 

·                          THE RECORD

 

(IMPORTANT NOTE: unless otherwise noted, ALL records are graded visually, and NOT play-graded!; we  grade records under the strong, diffuse room light or discrete sunlight)

 

(a)          WE GRADE THE VINYL AS STRONG VERY GOOD+(+) . CAUTION: The vinyl is NOT MINT or NEAR MINT, but is nevertheless in a very nice and clean condition. There are some surface marks and abrasions, mostly light and superficial, although some may be longer than 1.1/4 inches (1 inch = 2.5 centimeters)

 

(b)         The record is pressed on a beautiful, thick, inflexible vinyl, which was usually used for the first or very early pressings. Usually, the sound on such thick vinyl pressings is full-bodied, vivid, and even dramatic. Do not expect to obtain such a majestic analog sound from a digital recording!

 

(c)         Of course, this is a full-bodied ANALOG recording, and not an inferior, digital recording!!!

 

 

·                          THE COVER

 

THE COVER IS ABOUT VERY GOOD+(+)

 

The following flaws or imperfections are noted on the cover:

 

-       Cover has some light ring wear (nothing significant); On the scale from 1 to 10 (1 being the least, and  10 being the most severe), we assess the severity of ring wear as 3  (front side) and 4 (back side)

 

-       The cover has circular tarnish (grayish, dust-covered sections, which closely follow the contour of the record),  probably caused by friction or by rubbing against other covers during the storage. The tarnish is similar in appearance to a common ring wear, but, UNLIKE ring wear, these grayish areas may be possible to clean up with a minor effort and with a right cleansing solution.

 

-       Cover shows some light yellowing on back side, apparently from aging (nothing significant)

 

-       Cover has a few tiny wrinkles along the spine (nothing significant)

 

-       Visible shelf wear noted on the top and bottom seams.

 

-       Cover has two corners slightly worn (nothing significant)

 

 

NO OTHER VISIBLE FLAWS OR IMPERFECTIONS ON THE  COVER

 

 

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POSTAGE & SHIPPING:

 

We offer three postage rates for domestic orders: USPS Media Mail, USPS Priority Mail and USPS Express Mail and three rates for international shipments:  USPS First Class, USPS Priority International Mail, and USPS Express International Mail (in a small number of cases, we will, at our discretion and for purely technical reasons, substitute First Class Mail with eBay's Global Shipping, which is fundamentally the same service at about the same cost). INTERNATIONAL CUSTOMERS PLEASE NOTE: WE RECOMMEND (BUT DO NOT INSIST) that you select USPS International Priority Mail when making a payment.

 

INTERNATIONAL POSTAGE rates vary from one region of  the world to another. For SPECIFIC international and domestic postage rates, please click on " Shipping, returns, and payments" tab in the header of our listing.

 

 

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CRITICALLY IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

 

(A) All orders valued at $50.00 or more will be shipped fully insured against loss, damage or theft by ShipCover, eBay's contracted insurer, at our expense (B) Yes, we do combine items into a single shipment; in order to enable this feature, the winning bidders should WAIT until their last item of interest ends and ONLY THEN make a payment. Doing otherwise will result in multiple shipments to the same customer and forfeiture of multiple shipping charges already paid. (C) Because we do not play-grade our items, we do not know how the purchased item will play on the buyer's equipment. We can only make reasonable inference on the record's playing condition based on its visual appearance. (D) This seller will NOT cancel erroneous, frivolous and prank bids. The bidders can do so on their own, by visiting eBay's Site Map, then clicking on Bid Retractions link. (E) This seller does not specifically grade or describe certain items, such as: shrink (cellophane) wrap and accompanying extras (inserts, booklets, etc.); however, the presence of these items WILL be noted and accompanied by the gallery photo(s). (F) Please do not submit any bids on our items if you have insufficient user history. (G) Other than in very rare justified cases, failure to pay for the item you won amounts to a fraud and will result in a permanent ban on bidding on our future listings. (H) We will NEVER deliberately, knowingly or willingly provide a false, deceitful or misleading information.

 

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OUR REFUND POLICY :

 

WE OFFER UNCONDITIONAL MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE (POSTAGE INCLUDED) WITHIN 30 DAYS FROM THE RECEIPT OF THE MERCHANDISE, NO QUESTIONS ASKED; STILL SEALED ITEMS MUST BE RETURNED SEALED IN ORDER TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR A REFUND.   NO EXCEPTIONS!

 

 

FINE (BUT IMPORTANT!) PRINT

 

 (1) The year indicated in the title bar is the year of the original release,  NOT necessarily the year of the actual pressing; for the actual generation of the pressing, please see our item description (top section, the text in red letters). (2) Please do NOT bid based on the title bar, subtitle bar or item specifics box alone; instead, please read the entire description before bidding; (3) Absolutely NO order cancellations after the auction closes. ever, under any circumstances. We can ONLY cancel bids before the item closes. (4) We are unable to provide matrix-, stamper- or other pressing  information in the final 24 hours of the auction. (5) All disagreements and miscommunications can be - and will only be - solved in a civil and mutually respectful manner; please avoid puerile, offensive, abrasive or menacing language (6) This seller will accommodate all reasonable requests and - unless seriously molested - is generally a flexible, pragmatic and agreeable person.

 

Our love & appreciation for your trust, loyalty and business, always and forever;  Thank You & Good Night!

 

© 2001,2007 MDJ. All rights reserved.

 

On Oct 10, 2024 at 21:49:48 PDT, seller added the following information: