BEE GEES 1st 67 German Press with RARE Cover Variation

	£		104
	$		137

Artist or Band: BEE GEES

Album Title: The Bee Gees 1st.

Producer(s): Robert Stigg (co producer: Ossie Byrne).

Country of Manufacture and Variation: This is a German pressing, many of the Bee Gees early Polydor titles were pressed around Europe. Other than the UK, many are seen made in Holland. What makes this German copy exciting it has a unique and very different cover, the back being more than obvious (please see my comparison picture, this German back on the right). No only that, this German-made cover is FULLY laminated, the UK versions have only front laminate. You could almost call this cover the ‘de luxe’ version as its superior in practically all departments. At first glance the front looks identical bar the obvious Polydor logo included on this example, but closer examination reveals this German cover front has a major difference in the colour of the main right flower. Here the colour is a lovely sky blue, the UK version is more violet. (I have tried to show this also with my close up picture, the difference in colour should be very apparent on a quality computer monitor). Also ‘foliage’ parts near the bottom areas are different too, the UK version being a darkish lilac colour and this one being more cyan. The greens are more subtely different too. These colour changes are not global on this cover, it seems to be confined to just the bottom areas and these colours. The multi-coloured psych middle flower and the swirly treetop centre and left are near identical as is pretty much all the rest. But when the cover fronts are laid side-to-side, they DO look different but have the same artwork of course. Certainly an interesting and major variant and one 60s connoisseur collectors are sure to find fascinating. The record is the same bar the German text around the rims and the GEMA logo.

Track Listing: Side 1: Turn of the Century; Holiday; Red Chair Fade Away; One Minute Woman; In My Own Time; Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You; Craise Finton Kirk Royal Academy of Arts. Side 2: New York Mining Disaster 1941; Cucumber Castle; To Love Somebody; I Close My Eyes; I Can’t See Nobody; Please Read Me; Close Another Door.

Label/Format: Polydor – Red format and ‘arch’ logo.

Label Conditions: Very clean, attractive and clearly modestly handled. Spindle marks are very few and very light, the few present barely even show. Absolutely no wear at all around the hole area (Please see my label scan).

Cat Number: 184089 (the UK number was 583012).

Mode / Speed: Stereo / 33.3 rpm.

Weight of this Record: 144 grams. [These days, many modern Audiophile reissues are pressed on super-heavyweight 180 gram vinyl. Only a small percentage of ‘vintage vinyl’ was ever pressed this heavy. Records pressed in the 1960s averaged around 140 to 150 grams. Records pressed in the 1970s were usually lighter and averaged more around 115 – 125 grams. Some records pressed around 1973 were very thin and light due an oil crisis and shortage around this time. Some records were even issued on recycled vinyl from this period and sounded poor with crackle and surface noise evident from the very first play. If any record I buy is deemed ‘recycled’, I will never offer it, I have a very simple test to detect these records if I suspect this to be the case other than audible imperfection. Some records from this period were even pressed on other materials the most notable was ‘Dynaflex’, used by RCA around this time. Although inferior to vinyl, this at least mostly sounded reasonably acceptable but pressings on this material were wafer thin and flimsy. Beyond the 70s, records often became thinner and lighter still but most played fine but were never quite the quality as from the ‘Golden Era’]. (This was based on ‘average’ weights for 20 records from these eras. Later pressings were usually lighter still).

Rarity: Scarce, wherever it was pressed and I would imagine this German-made copy would be rarer still. It’s certainly the first time I have seen one for sure and with its fully laminated cover, it looks fantastic. German manufacturers did not skimp on using laminate and many classic albums that were not laminated at all in the UK can be found looking wonderful as German examples. Even many of the Island albums exist laminated including the classic King Crimson debut.

Original Year of Release: 1967

Matrix Nos: 184089 A / 184089=2B [the year 1967 is also included]

Brief Artist & Album Info: One of the greatest albums from the 1960s in my humble opinion, this simply gets better and better on every listen. A very fine stereo copy of this almost forgotten classic, issued in the greatest year in music, 1967, the summer of love. Comparisons to the Beatles, at the absolute peak of their powers were made, and true there strong similarities in their early sound. Forget those bland and commercial disco workouts of the 1970s, early Bee Gees albums were nothing like that at all. 1st has stunning vocal harmonies, classic rock, pop and psychedelia. ‘Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You’ even has moments of darkness with a real Gothic sound – this is NO Saturday Night Fever. This track is very prone to distortion (to say the very least) but here plays with stunning clarity (as does the whole album). The cover has Beatles links also, the gorgeous artwork was designed by Klaus Voormann who was responsible for the classic Revolver sleeve and played with members at various times. The brothers Gibb were all still teenagers when this album was issued, Maurice and Robin (17) and Barry (19), its almost unbelievable to take in when you hear these fourteen, all original written songs. If this true classic album eluded you all those years ago (it certainly did me until fairly recent years), this must be heard and I promise and even guarantee, you will be captivated by this groundbreaking issue. All the Bee Gees albums up to 1969’s Odessa are essential, but this 1st album is possibly the very best of all.

This Cover’s Potential for Wear: Moderate (the only partially laminated UK versions are more prone to wear but this German made cover is fully protected): [Unlaminated covers are always the most vulnerable for rubbing, fading, sticker tears and ringwear, gatefolds are more prone still and the darker they are, the more this type of wear occurs and shows. Some sleeves have a textured finish or die-cut shaped edges or ‘windows’. These are even more delicate and the hardest to find in top condition. Fully laminated covers are more resistent to wear but often the laminate ages with dulling, creases and blistering. Many 60s covers have outer flipback construction, these are very vulnerable to damage]. (US covers are the most fragile of all, very rarely laminated and made with thick brittle card that rubs and ringwears badly. Seams and edges split easily). Please see format below to access this cover’s potential for wear and damage.

Cover Grade and Format: EX++ and even this very high grading does not really do this beautiful cover full justice. I have simply downgraded a notch from Mint(-) because of a small corner chip (bottom front right) and a fine ‘thumb crease’ on the back top left edge – both very minor blemishes but there all the same. A single format and FULLY laminated which I have never seen before. As stated, the back’s artwork is totally different and it was printed and made in Germany by Deutsche Grammophon, one of the most respected and best manufacturers of records in the world.

Front, Back & Lamination: Both front and back show little wear at all but the small chip as mentioned above. Superb psych front design by Voormann and it will seldomly be seen much better. Rich deeply coloured artwork lies beneath ultra clean and shiny laminate that has no peeling, dry area lifting or blistering, mottling, dulling or friction rubbing. It remains super clear and has hardly any noteworthy creasing at all bar the small edge crease also mentioned above. Even surface hairlines or marks are minimal and almost non-existent. This laminate runs to the full edges so any grime-line grubbiness formation is non-applicable here. The unique back artwork is far more interesting than the ‘regular’ version as it has several vintage pictures of the teenage band as they were as this time. All the text blurb is still present also and is all in English. This is a very special cover variant and must rank up there as one of the loveliest ever made. This fully laminated and very different version is very special indeed.

Top Edge: Unworn.

Bottom Edge: As above plus the chip.

Right Edge(s), and Type: Clean, very sharp with no wear or feathering. Record entered on right outside edge.

Spine and Text: Super spine too which is also laminated to protect that fine delicate text which is all perfect. A very solid and straight edge with barely any traces of compression or wear. This looks really lovely, especially so when many of the ‘standard’ covers are so often seen worn and grubby with the text eroded away.

Corners: One front chip only (front bottom right), that apart all near perfect and fantastic neat and sharp shape retained.

Cover Summary: A quite beautiful all round example of this classic 1967 cover, one that could prove very difficult to find significantly better and I feel I have even undergraded it. This is an important variant and it looks gorgeous with TWO shiny sides. Connoisseur territory, I doubt if I will find another quite like this again.

Vinyl Condition/Visual Grading: Mint(-) and looking as lovely as the cover (in record terms). A super clean record that is shiny, jet black and heavily pressed. A copy with minimal plays on all the evidence reitterated by very clean and focused sound with no distortion. A title that often suffers badly from clipping and noise with complex grooves patterns that will be immediately obvious to ‘groove-readers’. A record that suffered bad equipment and abuse badly and many these days are unlistenable. Visually a super record that should please many collectors again.

Album Played For Grading: Yes.

Sound Quality and Audio Grading: This brilliant record plays up to its visual grading with practically nothing to fault at all. Strong, distortion-free sound (never take this for granted on this title or any record, especially Bee Gees titles that seem to suffer highly), all frequencies are sharp and clear - sound quality is very high with a wide dynamic range and very detailed sound. Beautifully produced with real hi-fi quality sound, this stereo version has great depth, definition and superb, realistic separation – natural stereo sound values. Any unwanted sounds are minimal, light and infrequent and this German pressed copy was a pleasure from start to finish. The aforementioned song with the heavy Gothic overtones plays perfectly, one of the few examples I have heard that does so. With its deep mellotron sound, this is very prone to distortion and echo type clipping but all is focused and sharp. Few copies will play better than this and its clearly been lightly played, avoiding pile-driver thick heavy needles from those days. Nothing spoilt my pleasure when play-grading this classic Bee Gees debut. This copy could prove very difficult to find significantly better and is strongly recommended.

End Piece: Timeless quality music, so ironic their most successful albums were from the 1970s. Forget them, for those who only know the Bee Gees from that period and dont care for it too much, listen to this one without pre-judging. This is very different and their early albums are very special indeed. At times very Beatles-like, this will appeal to the more psych-era Fab Four era. This for me is as essential as any of the classics issued in that incredible year and no collection should be without a copy. With its rarer fully laminated cover and variations too, this copy is essential.

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