The Who Live At Leeds LP - First Printing U.K. - VERY RARE - NEAR MINT

$

175

Up for bid is an VERY rare first pressing of the The Who Live At Leeds from England.  The first pressings of this LP used black ink on the title.  2nd pressings used blue and from the 3rd pressings onward the stamp was in red ink.  The matrix numbers stamped on the inside groove are A // 1 and B // 1 (sides one and two respectively).  The condition of the vinyl itself is in mint condition.  I graded it mint minus because there are a few faint spindle marks on both sides.  Whoever had this record to outstandingly good care of it.  These editions are extremely rare and it is ultra rare to find one with a cover in this condition.  The main flaw is in the upper right cover where a price sticker was removed (see photo) and there is some slight creasing on the lower right side of the front cover - ever so on the back (please see photos).  All in all I rate the cover as in B+ condition (Very Good) withholding Excellent due to the sticker removal.  There is no ring wear or seam splits whatsoever.  ALL 12 of the inserts are included and are ALL in mint condition.  These include:  1. A tally sheet of the earnings of The High Numbers (The name The Who had prior to be called The Who) which is dated Sun. 26th July to Sat. 1st Aug.  2. A letter from John Burgess of EMI records to High Numbers manager Kit Lambert dated 22nd October 1964 rejecting the High Numbers for a recording contract.  3.  A tally sheet from the Marquee Club in London dated 1st December 1964 showing what the gate take was and how much The Who netted.  4. A summons to court to Kit Lambert demanding the return of a Vox Phantom Guitar Case and a Vox Piano Bass which had not been paid for.  5. An early photo of The Who on heavy card stock.  6. A letter from Barry Perkins of King's Agency (Variety) Limited (a booking agency) to Kit Lambert dated 22nd March 1965 cancelling The Who's appearance at the Locarno Ballroom on Thursday, April 15th due to the fact that "the promoter has had a lot of trouble there recently and he feels that the THE WHO are not the type of group that would go well in his Ballroom."  7.  A tally sheet showing The Who's take on various shows dated from 18th April - 18th June 1965 on New Action Limited letterhead (their management company).  8. Pete Townshend's type written lyrics to "My Generation" including some handwritten notes in the margins and footnotes.  9. A delivery receipt from Brock's Crystal Palace Fireworks Ltd. for a 1 case of Y.2. Smoke Generators (smoke bombs) containing 1 gross (12 dozen - 144).  10. A contract from Premier Talent Associates, Inc. for their appearance at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival dated 27th of June 1969.  They were paid $6,250.00 in advance and the balance at the show ($6,250.00) a total of $12,500 for their historic appearance at Woodstock.  11. A photo of Pete Townshend leaping into the air with his guitar over his head at the 1969 Isle of Wight festival (Britain's equivalent of Woodstock) on Saturday August 30th 1969 - just two weeks after Woodstock.  Contrary to popular belief this photo was NOT taken at Woodstock.  Given the size of the crowd appears the same but the tents and set up on the upper right hand side of the photo shows this to be the Isle of Wight.  On the back of the photo are Pete's handwritten lyrics to "Listening To You".  I didn't get a chance to take a photo of this because I had already reached my 12 photo limit.  If you'd like to see this, please let me know and I will take a photo of it for you.  12. A poster that is unique to the first pressings of the LP.  This shows THE WHO MAXIMUM R&B TUESDAYS AT THE MARQUEE.  Later pressings changed this to THE WHO MAXIMUM R&B LIVE AT LEEDS.  This made this edition of the LP especially unique and now RARE.  This is a facsimile of the poster that was first used to promote The Who in west London in late '64 and '65.
All of the inserts are in a wax paper bag that was used in the original release.
The reason for the flimsy cardboard sleeve and the hand written label was that The Who wanted to contrast this, their follow up LP to Tommy, to contrast the elaborate artwork and triple gatefold sleeve of Tommy such as The Beatles had done with the White Album - a blank white sleeve with The BEATLES embossed in white on the cover to contrast the elaborate and colorfully psychedlic Sgt. Pepper sleeve.  Where The Beatles had each copy of the White Album individually numbered as art, The Who had the color of the ink on the stamp on the sleeve changed with each pressing (see above introduction).  The entire package was meant to look like a bootleg right down to the handwritten (by Pete Townshend) labels on the LP.  It is said that each member of the band came in and spent a day each individually hand stamping the black labels.  Whether or not this is so cannot be confirmed.  But it is confirmed that the black labels are first pressings and are the rarest.  The July 2016 issue of Record Collector magazine confirms this.  
This is THE best sounding live album ever released.  Rolling Stone magazine recently confirmed that there has yet to be a live album that surpasses this one in terms of sound quality.  The Who were absolutely WHITE HOT on the night they recorded this at the refectory at Leeds University, Leeds, England, on Saturday, February 14, 1970.   This album is so impossibly good that they would never release another live album while Keith Moon was still alive as they felt that they could never surpass it (and in truth - they never have).                                  Side 1  1. Young Man Blues  2. Substitute  3. Summertime Blues  4. Shakin' All Over  Side 2  1. My Generation  2. Magic Bus                                                                                                   This is a truly a RARE treasure and you are not likely to find an LP like this that is 46 years old with a cover such as this in such fine condition again - GET IT WHILE YOU CAN!