CLIFF RICHARD:Summer Holiday 1 Of Only 80 Copies EVER.

	£		320
	$		429

For auction here is one of the rarest records ever pressed in the history of UK pop.

CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS: Summer Holiday (1963 Elstree Extra Label) For Cast & Crew Only. One Of Only 80 Ever Made.

Recently featured in Record Collector's Rarest Records Of All Time feature, here is a truly unique opportunity to bid on this genuine land mark in pop culture.

This version comprises a very extended, never released  version of the movie soundtrack, with dialogue, that was exclusively given as a "thank-you" to cast and crew at the end of production of Summer Holiday in 1962.  It was a personal gift to those involved at the time and never meant to be heard by the public.

It is completely different from any commercially released edition.

To add to it's extreme scarcity this one is actually signed on the label "To Brian From Cliff" and there is every chance this would have been Brian Bennett of The Shadows.

Summer Holiday - both on film and musically - was just about the last hurrah of how pop was performed before the Beatles changed everything. Whatever subsequently became of Cliff Richard's reputation, he and the Shadows were captured here in brilliant form with a terrific set list including "Summer Holiday" "Bachelor Boy" "Dancing Shoes" and the magnificent "Next Time".  The shadows weigh in with, among others,  "Foot Tapper" and "Round & Round"

The records are housed in a white, plainly worded Elstree Studios utility sleeve: "Special Presentation Album Of The Original Soundtrack Summer Holiday" but it is discs' labels that tell the fuller story.

"Elstree Extra Range. Recorded At APBC Studios Borehamwood Hertfordshire  Special Recording Limited To 80 Copies. NOT FOR SALE"

There is also a space to write To and From like a greetings card. On the first side here the name Paul Dehn has been scribbled out and "Brian" inserted followed by "Kenneth Harper" being crossed through and simply "Cliff" added in fountain pen. (Paul Dehn, incidentally, wrote the screenplay for many of the early Bond films and, on this evidence, may have "ghosted" some of Summer Holiday's dialogue.)

This really is a remarkable find. It is highly unlikely other copies of this will be in general collector's hands.

The discs themselves are in high-end very good/excellent  condition. Although there are a few faint hairlines and a couple of what - on first sight - appear to be  "scratches" but in fact are nothing of the sort - the marks are purely surface "scuff" lines and the records play silently, cleanly and with the very minimum of background noise. In truth it is unlikely this cast and crew gift-set was played very much at all.

The sleeve is lightly laminated, very clean and bright. It has been either secured or repaired with a little selotape at the top and bottom edges - the top strip having yellowed.  The labels are unfaded and clear with the described annotations in pen merely adding to their provenance.

Those who follow UK record collecting will know what an extraordinary and exciting piece this is. The word "rare" - and let's not forget "mega-rare" and "impossibly-rare" - is bandied about very freely on eBay.

But this is the real deal. An insiders snapshot of innocent pop culture just before the coming deluge.  

CLIFF RICHARD & THE SHADOWS: Summer Holiday (1963 Elstree Extra Range) 2 Disc Set For Cast & Crew Only. One Of Only 80 Ever Made.

Good luck everyone and Happy 50th Anniversary Cliff...

The starting price for this wonderful item is low and there is no reserve.