'BEATLES FOR SALE' UK/FRANCE RARE 'YEX-1' TUBE CUT STEREO PARLOPHONE FLIP-BACK

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'BEATLES FOR SALE' UK/FRANCE RARE 'YEX-1' TUBE CUT STEREO PARLOPHONE FLIP-BACK
THE BEATLES "BEATLES FOR SALE" LABEL: PARLOPHONE  PCS 3062 (STEREO) RARE CLASSIC EARLY '-1' TUBE CUT VERSION  GATEFOLD 'FLIPBACK' PRESSING w/ RARE 'PETERS NYC' IMPORT STICKER UK RELEASE - CONTRACT PRESSED BY  PATHE MARCONI IN FRANCE RECORD COMPANY: EMI RECORDS LTD. LONDON PRESSED BY PATHE MARCONI ~ CHATOU, FRANCE 298113/298114 RELEASED: CIRCA 1973/1974 (ORIGINALLY DECEMBER 1964) PRODUCER: GEORGE MARTIN ALBUM COVER PHOTOGRAPHS: ROBERT FREEMAN LABEL CATALOG NUMBER: YEX 142 / YEX 142 MATRIX (SIDE A): YEX 142-1  M6 298113 1  PCS 3062 A MATRIX (SIDE B): YEX 143-1  M6 298114 1  PCS 3062 B
CONDITION:   VINYL: VG++   JACKET: VG TO VG+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I've been going thru my large vinyl record collection over the past few weeks and pulling out some LPs that I thought that someone else would want for their collection. I've been collecting records for over 45 years and it's time to pass some of them on to the next generation of collectors.
After all, we are just temporary 'caretakers' of these musical gems until the next owner and next collection takes them in.
This week on Ebay, we are offering up this rare, fantastic, French, early 70's, all-analog, '-1' Tube cut, Stereo pressing of the Beatles 'Beatles For Sale' album.
This is my personal, original, early pressing copy that I purchased 'used' in the shops along St Marks Place in Greenwich Village back in the late 70's. It has remained in my record collection ever since and I've taken great care of this record for nearly 45 years now. It's been poly-line sleeved, inside and out, since I purchased it, and stored properly in my collection. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'Beatles for Sale' was the fourth studio album by The Beatles, famously recorded in just 7 days in the middle of constant touring, and released on December 4, 1964 in Great Britain. 
Beatles 'For Sale' wasn't issued in the US. Instead, a slightly modified, restructured album called 'Beatles '65' was issued by Capitol on December 15, at the end of the year, and just in time for Christmas.
Capitol also pulled 6 songs from the English "Beatles For Sale" and put them on the American "Beatles VI" album in early 1965.
This album was released at the peak of Beatlemania in the UK and features the sounds of Beatlemania itself.
'Beatles for Sale' doesn't get much love from fans, but it's a fantastic album. If ever a Beatles album was under rated, this album is.
This is a rare, beautiful sounding and very nice French pressed, Stereo, all- analog, '-1' tube-cut pressing. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
THE STORY OF THIS 'FRENCH' UK EMI PRESSING OF 'BEATLES FOR SALE'
By late 1973 or early 1974, the UK pressing plants were busy churning out new vinyl, so the re-pressing of "Beatles For Sale" was outsourced to France and pressed under contract by the Pathé Marconi EMI plant in Chatou.
These were pressed in France, using UK metalwork, and used the famous, original, Harry Moss mastered and lacquered, '-1' tube cut, UK stampers.
Since there wasn't a whole lot of demand for 'stereo' pressings of "Beatles For Sale" in the UK when it was first released in late 1964, the original '-1' Stereo stampers were still in great condition by the early 70's, and used for this classic French pressing.
These records were pressed on nice thick, heavy vinyl.
This pressing uses the 2 white-boxed EMI logo, silver-on-black text, Parlophone labels. This type of '2-box' label was used from '71-ish until the 'EMI' rim print label was introduced around 1975/76.
The fine print around the perimeter begins with "EMI RECORDS LTD" and ends with "MADE IN FRANCE", but there's No mention of "Gramophone", like the 1964 UK first pressings. These were made around 1974, but still used the original UK first pressing '-1' stampers.
Original early pressings and labels like this also had track A7 titled as just 'Kansas City', which had to be changed and retitled as "Medley: Kansas City (Leiber/Stoller) Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Penniman)" on later pressings for legal reasons.
Many Beatle collectors insist that these early 70's, tube cut Stereo pressings of "Beatles For Sale" are the ultimate, best sounding, version to own, unless you want to pay serious $$ for an original black/yellow Parlophone label 1964 first pressing.
Many audiophiles prefer the crisp and precise sound, the overall warmth, and that wonderful midrange magic of these earlier 'tube cut' pressings to the much more common 'solid state' cut pressings from the early 70's onward.
You can identify these original early UK tube-cut pressings by the simple stamped 'YEX 142-1/YEX 143-1' matrix number, the famous '-1' matrix number, and the hand-done 'correction' or overstrike of the '2' in YEX-142-1. (see pic)
The hype that these '-1' pressings get is well-deserved! A fantastic example of early Beatles mastering, mixing and production, and arguably the best sounding Beatles record.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The 14 terrific songs on this copy of "Beatles For Sale" include:
No Reply I'm A Loser Baby's In Black Rock And Roll Music I'll Follow The Sun Mr. Moonlight Kansas City Eight Days A Week Words Of Love Honey Don't Every Little Thing I Don't Want To Spoil The Party What You're Doing Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
This album starts off with 3 original songs in a row written by John Lennon. Much has been written about how John's writing took a transformative, new direction during this period.
After meeting Bob Dylan in New York in August '64, discussing songwriting, and getting turned on to Marijuana, John suddenly took a more serious, introspective, autobiographical approach to songwriting, much like what Dylan was doing at the time.
John was already starting to get tired of being a Teeny Bopper Pop Star, singing cute, catchy, upbeat songs about 'boys & girls & love' and he started to take the leap into darker, more self-loathing, and more confessional and personal songwriting.
The results can be heard in the 'Lennon Trilogy' of songs; 'I'm a Loser', 'No Reply', and 'Baby's in Black' that open side one.
The opening track, 'No Reply' sounds amazing and during the song's bridge it has some of the best blending of John and Paul's voices heard on any Beatles record. The vocals, as well as Ringo's drums, really stand out on this song.
Speaking of Ringo, he gets his spotlight to sing on the band's cover of Carl Perkins' 'Honey Don't' and his drum sound also really changes for the first time on this album. Instead of just playing his basic drumkit, he adds all sorts of odd percussion to 'Honey Don't',  Paul's 'What You're Doing', and he even taps out the rhythm on a suitcase on 'Words of Love', just like Jerry Allison did on Buddy Holly's original hit.
Paul also gets his chance to shine with 'Every Little Thing' and 'What You're Doing', his song about his relationship with Jane Asher, but most of the originals on "Beatles For Sale" were written together with, or by John.
Many critics of this album claim that Paul was too preoccupied with Jane Asher at the time, had a bit of writer's block, and was too busy and too tired to come up with much new original material for this album.
That's not necessarily true. Paul was writing a ton of new songs at the time, but the band felt they weren't 'Beatles' material, so Paul gave them away to other artists like Cilla Black and Peter & Gordon, who had minor hits with them.
Paul sings his own fantastic composition 'I'll Follow The Sun' and the mastering on this track is so 'realistic' that it sounds like the Fab Four are playing right there in the room. The guitars and Paul's vocal are just awesome.
'I'll Follow The Sun' sounds great in Stereo, but I think this is one of the few tracks on this album that actually sounds better in Mono, as originally intended.
~~ There weren't a lot of big hits on this album, but it represents the raw sound of the Beatles. Paul later stated that it was meant to capture the wide variety of songs, and the flow and style, of their live show.
Around this same time, the Beatles released their best current songs, the hits, as the stand alone single 'I Feel Fine' / 'She's a Woman', which sold very well. 
The 'Hit' from this record, especially in America, was 'Eight Days a Week'. It's a rare early example of fantastic Beatles mastering and mixing. Recorded on 4-track tape and mastered by Harry Moss, it's one of the first Beatles songs with a fade-in, a full, wide, layered soundstage, and sounds absolutely amazing. 
The Beatles themselves oddly didn't really like it for some reason, and they never performed it live. 'Eight Days a Week' was released as a single in America. ~~
After visiting and touring the USA earlier in 1964, the Beatles became much more interested in, and influenced by, American Country music.
You can hear that slight Country influence on this album, with George playing more of his Gretsch Tennessean guitar on several tracks.
George sings 'Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby' and he adds his distinct sound and style to many of the other tracks.
For example, on 'I Don't Want to Spoil the Party', George plays a ripping solo on his Tennessean.  I also love the raw, distorted guitar sound on 'What You're Doing'.
On 'Words of Love', the classic Buddy Holly song and one of my favorite early Beatles covers, George actually expands on Buddy's original riff, making it more challenging to play, and double-tracking it, thus adding his own 'sound' to it.
I was playing this record while writing this description up and hadn't listened to it in a few years. 'Words of Love' really caught my ear, and I was amazed at the harmonies, the guitar work, Ringo's odd drumming on a suitcase, and how the handclaps are right in your face in the soundstage.
Did I mention that this album is amazingly mixed and mastered?
Much of this album has a powerful, punchy, dynamic 'Live' sound to it, which is partly due to the fact that several of these songs were recorded in just one take.
The rockers, 'Kansas City', 'Rock'n'Roll Music', and 'Everybody's Trying to be my Baby', songs that the Beatles knew well and played often in concert, were all captured in one fresh, energetic take.
Side One finishes off with a rocking version of 'Kansas City', with fantastic vocals by Paul recorded in a single take, but it's the 3rd cover version in a row on side one, and I'm sure most fans would rather have heard a Beatles original rather than more covers.
The Beatles' last album, 'Hard Day's Night' was made up of all original songs, so I'm sure UK fans were slightly upset with 6 of the 14 songs on 'Beatles For Sale' being covers.
Also the Beatles tended to choose mid 50's R'n'Roll and Rockabilly songs to cover, which the band loved, but musical tastes in the UK were past that, and leaning to more 'Mod' R&B sounds by the end of 1964. Young British fans caught up in Beatlemania weren't very interested in 'old' American rock songs, and wanted to hear what was fresh, new and exciting instead.
This album also contains the much maligned 'Mr Moonlight'. This song is often cited as the worst cover version the Beatles ever did.
John sings powerful, strong vocals, but Paul's organ solo is the definition of 'cheesy' and the song is not a fan favorite.
During the sessions for this album, the band recorded multiple takes of 'Leave my Kitten Alone', which many fans felt would have made the album better if it replaced 'Mr Moonlight'. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
'BEATLES FOR SALE' ALBUM COVER ART AND DESIGN
When it came to designing the album cover and packaging for this album, EMI, notorious for being cheap and stingy, finally realized that the Beatles were one of their biggest sellers, and deserved better treatment.
EMI finally opened up their wallets and hired photographer Robert Freeman to shoot the album's cover art.
Using his favorite Pentax SLX camera, Freeman took a series of photographs of the Beatles in London's Hyde Park on a cool crisp Fall morning. His assistant held up colorful leaves and twigs in some of the shots to add color and emphasize the autumnal feel. This created the controversial green and orange 'blotches' at bottom of the famous front cover shot, and the vertical 'line' between George and Ringo on the back cover shot. Some fans at the time thought it was an interesting 'artistic' touch, others thought it was just wrong.
The famous cover shot has been the topic of debate and discussion for decades.
Some feel the picture made the Beatles look tired and worn out, which they clearly were at the time, with incessant touring, press and media events.
Others, including the band themselves, say that Robert Freeman's classic photo made them look more thoughtful, introspective, and 'Dylan-esque'. Serious musicians, not Pop stars.
The back cover photo also shows the lads in Hyde Park, dressed in heavy black coats, looking up at Freeman with rather blank somber expressions. No-one is smiling and Ringo even appears to be frowning.
Just like the music inside, the album cover art for 'Beatles For Sale' showed the band in a totally new way. Gone were the smiling, loveable mop-tops, being replaced by 4 serious thoughtful 'artists' and songwriters. ~~
Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd's album jacket design for 'Beatles For Sale' was also something completely new and different.
The album was packaged and released in a strange, early style of gatefold sleeve. The first Rock album, and one of the very first non-classical records to ever be released with a gatefold jacket.
The record pouch also opened from the inside, not from the right side or top, like most UK records at the time.
The jacket had the 60s-style 'flip-back' folded tab construction, with horizontal flipbacks on the right hand side of the center spread, but the opening 'flap' itself was thin, floppy and delicate.
Due to this complex, delicate design, and the need to remove the record from the inside, many early copies of 'Beatles For Sale' are found in poor condition, with scratchy vinyl, and rips, tears, seam splits and other issues on the jacket. This copy seems to have survived rather well, making this unusual French contract '-1' tube cut pressing even more rare. See more details on it's condition below.
This French pressing's whole album jacket is the thinner cardboard, European style, not very rigid, but it has a nice shiny laminated outer cover, which makes it very attractive.
The inside of the gatefold is designed and laid out very well, but done in B&W, not color, presumably to save costs.
There are 2 more pictures of the band inside. The left photo captures the band live in concert at the Washington Coliseum in 1964.
The full photograph on the right side of the gatefold shows the lads posing in front of a collage of movie stars at Pinewood studios, a film and television studio located just west of London, where they filmed "A Hard Day's Night."
The gatefold information lists the 14 songs on the album, gives production and recording details, plugs EMI and Parlophone, and also contains Derek Taylor's great little writeup explaining some details of the album.
Overall, a beautiful, artistic, incredibly awesome pressing of this classic ‘early’ Fab Four release.  A very worthy part of any Beatles or 60's Rock vinyl collection. ~~
Back in 1964, EMI hadn't yet standardized their album jacket designs for worldwide distribution, so there were many different cover variations of 'Beatles For Sale' released around the world. More variations than any other Beatles record, even the notorious early VJ material.
Due to the complex album jacket design, and many different pressings, from many different countries over the years, 'Beatles For Sale' is a fun album for Beatle fans to collect. There seems to be countless variations out there and I'm always finding one that I hadn't seen before.
This copy, a French contract pressing for EMI, looks very similar to the British pressing, but the 1964 French pressing on Odeon had a beautiful, die-cut gatefold design and contained a separate stiff paper insert that could be folded into a cool Beatles-themed lampshade. The varieties of 'Beatles For Sale' pressings out there are fascinating and endless. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BEATLES: MONO vs. STEREO?
This copy of 'Beatles For Sale' is a Stereo pressing of the famous '-1' tube-cut version.
In the Beatles collecting community there has always been an argument over which is better, Mono or Stereo.
The general rule of thumb, developed over many ears and many years, is that the Pre-'Rubber Soul' albums sound best in Mono. You need both Mono and Stereo versions of 'Rubber Soul', and Stereo copies of everything after, although the Mono 'Sgt Peppers' is fantastic, has merits, and is worth owning.
The early Beatles albums focused on a skillfully made Mono mix. The Mono mix was typically overseen and supervised by both the band and George Martin, to make sure it sounded cohesive, tight & right, and close to their true artistic intention. Then they usually left the Stereo mixes up to the studio engineers, often resulting in the music being extremely panned; all the vocals and drums in the left channel, and all the guitars and bass in the right channel.
That resulted in the Stereo pressings of the early albums being harsh and hard to listen to, especially on headphones. John Lennon once famously said "some fool tried to take what we did in mono and make it stereo, and it didn't work". 
I agree that the earlier albums sound best in Mono, but "Beatles For Sale", their 4th album, is the exception.
"Beatles For Sale" was recorded at Abbey Road studios on a cutting-edge, 4-track tape machine, isolating most of the instruments, then those analog tapes were mastered on all-analog tube equipment by Harry Moss. The results were amazing.
This was the first album where the band had any say in how the Stereo mix was created. Although they didn't have full control, there's plenty of photos out there actually documenting the lads attending the Stereo mixing sessions, as it was such an unusual experience for them.
(The only two albums that the Beatles had full control over the Stereo mix were the 'White Album' and 'Abbey Road'. 'Let It Be' was entirely a Phil Spector disaster.)
The Mono mix of "Beatles for Sale", although still sounding great, is a little flat, thin, muddy, and sometimes even a little muffled. It has no room to breathe, and therefore has a little less overall clarity and dynamics than the Stereo mix, some even calling it "dull & lifeless."
"Beatles for Sale" simply sounds better in Stereo. The famous '-1' tube cut Stereo mix, like this copy, is fantastic and amazing. 
The Stereo version keeps the vocals dead center and the panning isn't nearly as extreme as earlier albums. There's a wide, expansive, warm soundstage with detail, clear separation of the instruments, and great dynamics (for 1964), which really works for the music on this album. The vocals, drums and guitars just jump out of the speakers at you.
It sounds crisp, clean, lively, and well balanced. An amazing listening experience from the first track until the last!
Obviously, the choice of Mono vs Stereo really comes down to each person's preference, and there are a million arguments about which is better, but this Stereo pressing of "Beatles for Sale" sounds so much better than the mono version it's shocking.
That's why these original '-1' Stereo pressings of "Beatles for Sale" command such a high premium on the market compared to the more common Mono pressings.  
If you're a fan of the Beatles Mono mixes, find yourself a copy of the recently re-issued 2014 Mono box. The best sounding mono releases by far. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is a fantastic early Beatles album to add to your vinyl collection.
A beautiful, amazing sounding, all analog, Stereo, tube-cut, French pressing. Pure Beatlemania magic! For general vinyl collectors, it's a chance to add a great looking, and terrific sounding, early, UK, non-American release, Beatles album to your collection. For Beatle collectors, this is a rare, odd variant of the famous '-1' tube cut pressing of 'Beatles for Sale', with it's unusual French contract pressing and rare early red Peter's import sticker.
Either way, a fantastic album to add to your collection. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
CONDITION: I tried to show good hi-resolution photos of the jacket, labels, and vinyl in my pictures.
This is my original early French, '-1' Stereo copy of 'Beatles For Sale' that I purchased 'used' many decades ago, in Greenwich Village, on one of my regular vinyl digs in those days, and have taken great care of it since.
This record has been sleeved and stored properly for years, and is still quite nice for an early pressing. ~~ 
VINYL: The vinyl still looks great. Clean and bright. The vinyl does have some evidence of play wear, but No significant scuffs, scratches, or dings worth mentioning. I'm sure you'll be very happy with it.
I'll call it a conservative VG+, to keep everyone happy, but you can see from my photos how nice it looks.  This album is pressed on nice, heavy vinyl and has a nice sound to match. 
I haven't messed with this disc or cleaned it, other than my trusty 'DiscWasher' brush, in nearly 40 years, so it would likely benefit from a good deep cleaning to make it even better looking and better sounding than it already is. I'll leave that up to the winning bidder.
LABELS: As mentioned, this pressing has the 2-box black EMI labels with silver text. The labels are clean and bright, the spindle holes have mild wear, but the labels generally look fine.
JACKET: As you can see from my pictures, this still looks very nice for a 50 year old French import copy. 
This copy has a rare, red, 'Peters International' import sticker on the front over Paul's head. A cool reminder of NYC where I purchased this album many decades ago.
The fragile gatefold flap is in nice shape, with no rips, tears, or creases, which are typically seen.
Note that there is a small seam split and some damage on the left seam of the jacket. I showed a detail in one of my pictures. It could likely be repaired, or at least 'improved', but that's how I purchased it many years ago and left it alone.
The lamination is mostly intact and has a shiny gloss, but is starting to separate in the front top left corner, but not too bad. When placed into a sleeve, this album looks great and displays fine.
As they say, you don't play the jacket, it's all about the fantastic music on the disc inside.
The inside gatefold is clean and the record pocket is not torn or frayed. The 'flip back' borders are glued down tight.
No names, or writing. The corners are decent, and the spines are straight.
Overall a decent copy of this rare '-1' Stereo pressing. As you can see it still looks great and very acceptable. An amazing rare survivor. I tried to show details in my photos.
Very nice, all original, and a real gem. I'm sure you'll be very happy to add it to your collection. It would make a great addition to any Classic Rock or Beatles vinyl record collection.  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
** NOTE: I'm selling this rare 'Collector' record "AS IS" and "NO RETURN". It's rare, and as described, and I'm sure you'll be very happy with it. A great, rare, original, early 70's, French, Stereo, 'YEX-1' tube cut, great sounding copy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’m recently retired and downsizing and letting go some gems and rarities from nearly 50 years of vinyl record collecting. 
Keep an eye on my Ebay page, 'jjrbyrne' for more of these great rare collectible albums, EPs and 45 singles. 
All records have been carefully evaluated and graded by me. I visually inspect all records under bright light, personally gently clean them with a soft cloth and then, if unsure, play them on a modern high-end turntable and system to get a true picture of condition. 
Please look at all the high-resolution pictures I added. They are all my own and are of the actual record being sold. The pictures are part of the description and can show small details, label variations, and condition better than I can put into words. 
My grading is fair and honest. I have had over 3,600 happy and satisfied EBay customers over the years, with 100% positive feedback, and I have been buying/selling on EBay for nearly 30 years, so please bid with confidence!
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THANK YOU for looking and reading if you got this far. I know I rambled on a bit, but can't help it. I have a passion for records, especially the Beatles and classic rock.  I hope this listing was entertaining and informative.   -- JOHN