Beatles LP 1967 Sgt. Pepper First Pressing MONO, Nice VG+ Vinyl, COMPLETE

$

50

(Note:  If you win multiple items in a week’s listings, please wait for the end of all of the auctions for me to invoice you, so that you can take advantage of my combined shipping offer.  Thanks!)

READ THIS! These records are NOT sold for perfect sound quality. They’re sold for their scarcity and VISUAL grading. They’ve been in storage for a decade, and they WILL play with surface noise that can be addressed with D4 or a VPI cleaning.  I can’t test-play at the minute. Please don’t bid if this is a problem for you.

Beatles LP 1967 Sgt. Pepper First Pressing MONO, Nice VG+ Vinyl, COMPLETE!

If you’ve been having trouble finding a decent copy for your collection, this one will do very nicely.  Not a NM copy, but it straddles the space between keeper and very nice play copy. 

The Beatles themselves preferred the MONO mix, and I can see why.  Listen for the following:

**Fixing a Hole--- the stereo copy all but buries Ringo’s drum performance in the left channel by piling all the other instruments on top of it.  But with the drums in the MONO center channel, you will hear a LOT more delicate snare trills, bongos and high-hat work that you can’t hear in stereo.  Also, Paul’s bass swoops come through loud and clear, whereas on the stereo mix, they get blended in with the rest of the track to the point where you didn’t know it was a bass guitar.

**Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds--- The choruses add a dreamy swirl effect to the backing vocals that give Lennon’s imagery an even more heightened sense of psychedelia.

**Within You, Without You--- Has an entirely different take of the laughing edit piece at the end.

**Sgt. Pepper Reprise--- The fascinating MONO mix has two very clumsy and noticeable tape edits in which you can hear the tape machine engage, and the tape start awkwardly. 

Secondly, there are six beats on the metronome instead of four before Paul counts it off.  In that extra two beats, you can hear some extra Lennon dialogue right before he says, “Bye!”

And thirdly, this MONO mix leaves in the crowd hall noises that the stereo version mixes out.  You get treated to a second burst of laughter from the audience, as well as crowd ambience throughout the entire track.

No more spoilers!

Vinyl--- VG+/VG+.  Both sides have the lion’s share of new gloss.  Both sides shine 80 to 85% brand new, with a few light soft scuffs that can’t be felt with the fingertip.

Plates--- F1/G2.  Machine-stamped triangle with the letters, “IAM” inside it makes this copy pressed by Scranton.

Cover--- G.  Not the best cover.  Front cover isn’t too bad.  Has some light dirtwear, almost no ringwear except at the top.  Back cover has moderate to heavy ringwear and whitewear.  Left top corner of the cover has small staple holes where the original price tag was attached.  Right top corner has a drill hole.  Both sets of holes travel through the gatefold and back cover.  This cover’s real damage is that the top pocket is split about a third of the way down, and that the spine has about 3 inches completely worn and frayed off of it.  See photos.

Gatefold--- VG.  There’s a one-inch center seam split.  Had that not been there, this gatefold would have graded EX for just a slight yellowing.

Labels--- NM/EX.  Both labels look very nice, close to 1967-brand new.  Side 2 has some spindle marks, whereas Side 1 has none.

First pressing labels like this one lists the second song as “A Little Help from My Friends.”  The error was corrected by the second pressing.

Insert--- EX.  Wow!  Surprisingly nice insert.  Just a little yellowing from the 58 years since its release.  Staple holes and drill hole has affected this insert, but that serves as provenance that this is the original insert.

NO FINGER DIVOTS, NO RECORD OUTDENT.

Inner Sleeve--- Meh.  (Is that a grade?)  Sleeve has splits on all three seams a few inches long each.  It has also yellowed moderately.

A generic inner sleeve will be provided, so as not to damage your original inner sleeve en route.

RIAA: N/A.

As these records have been in storage for many years, they will play back with crackling and tics, however; a good moisturizing and cleaning with either D4 Discwasher or a VPI machine always clears them up.  Thanks!)

Note:  All LP’s ship outside of their album covers in order not to damage the covers during shipment.

CAUTION!  There has been a startling increase in bidders canceling their bids.  A word to the wise, I have started blocking any and all bidders who retract their bids regardless of the reason.

Please don’t bid unless you’re willing to honor your amount, okay? Thanks!

(Please note:  Regarding play-testing, my Technics turntable has somehow seized.  The tone arm is stuck in the up position, and I can’t get it to fully return to its cradle.  Is there anyone out there, who can tell me if this is an easy fix?  Thanks!) 

**Check out my other auctions for more hard-to-find vinyl!

Shipping is $5.38 for Media Mail for up to 3 single or double albums, excluding boxed sets within the U.S.  $5.38 covers shipping for up to 5 singles within the U.S., and within the same auction week.

Winners in all other countries will be charged actual shipping to their locations, so please wait to be invoiced.  You will be quoted for the cheapest shipping to your country that the US post office can afford me.  Please let me know if you would prefer to pay for a faster means of shipping, but do NOT ask me to declare packages as gifts, or any other means of defrauding the postal services.  Much appreciated.

I ship on Mondays and Thursdays.  This means that immediate payments will be shipped out the following morning, and later payments must wait until the first available Monday or Thursday after payment is received.  Please pay within 7 days of the auction ending.  I do leave negative feedback for non-payers.

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