Abbey Road UK pressing question

Sorry to rehash a question that has probably been posed numerous times, but here goes:

I won an eBay auction for about $30.00 for what the seller called a 1969 UK "first pressing" of Abbey Road with Her Majesty credit. The jacket appears to be "laminated" and not just plain printed cardbord. The cardboard stock is a little thinner than most of the albums I have.

I have been under the impression that the first pressing did not list Her Majesty on the disc. So, where I doubt this is actually a "first pressing," I still would like to know if it was a 1969 pressing, and if $30.00 was a decent price (the vinyl is in excellent condition, very quiet, no marks, little surface noise; the jacket is in good condition, some folds on the corner).

Matrix numbers are: side 1: YEX 749-4 2 LR
side 2: YEX 750-3 PH HTM 2

Thanks!

 

The early pressing matrices for Abbey Road were

side one: YEX 749-2
side two: YEX 750-1

Some claim the very first pressings had no credit for Her Majesty, a misaligned Apple on the back cover, an Apple ad insert and a black inner sleeve. If that is correct, then the -2/-1 matrices were also used for the second pressing, which credited Her Majesty, came with a white Apple inner and an aligned Apple on the back cover. Others claim that both were first pressings. The difference will be irrelevant to non-collectors, I gather.

The -4/-3 matrices are likely third--or second, depending on one's take of the above--pressings from the early- or mid-70s. This also comes in a laminated cover. The inner sleeve is of the 'EMI' type, and the vinyl is thinner compared to first/second pressings.

 

Thanks for the info. Do you think I got ripped off by paying approx. $30.00? My understanding is that all of the pre-digital UK pressings sound GOOD, regardless of the pressing (unlike my 1969 Capitol pressing which sounds BAD, not only due to wear). However, if the selling was peddling wrong info, I'd at least like him to know that--it could have been an honest mistake from a seller that doesn't quite know what he is doing.

 

Ripped off? I don't know about that, but IMHO you probably paid too much. $30 is what a "Her Majesty" label 1st press in not quite NM condition can cost (although sometimes more; sometimes less). The later pressing you received is probably more like a $10 or maybe $15 LP on Ebay.

 

No, you DID NOT get ripped off. Why? Because, with the HTM designation in the dead wax on side 2, you have one side that is cut by Mr. Harry T. Moss, sometime in the mid-70's. I had long thought (way before I joined this forum) that mid-late 70's UK Beatles' LP's sounded amazing, in some cases equaling their orig. Y&B equivalent, and was happily surprised when this was verified on the forum. Indeed, even sides from the 70's not cut by HTM sound amazing. I have 2 UK 70's 2 EMI box copies of Pepper, one has both sides cut by HTM, one has side 2 only. Of course, side 2 sounds better on that copy.

So, no, you did not get ripped off. You got a excellent sounding copy of a timeless piece of music for a great price.

And, for the record, I now believe that orig. UK Abbey Roads were issued simultaneously with the infamous black inner sleeve and the generic EMI white one. And, only some copies of AR had the Apple advertising inner. And, there were 2 different advertsing inners: one that folded and one that was about 10" x 10". I have one of the smaller ones.

 

Didn't Harry Moss cut most of the Beatles lacquers from the earliest days up until the 80s -- regardless of whether his initials are in the dead wax?

 

Good question. I don't know. But I am sure SH does. I am sure the answer can be culled by searching the all too many threads on this topic, but who has the time?

 

For the UK pressings, yes, at least the LP's.

 

Harry Moss cut all the Beatle records up through 1969 but not Abbey Road which was cut by Malcolm Davies according to author Mark Lewishon.

It was also the first Beatle LP to be cut at Apple and not EMI.

 

My UK Abbey Road was bought in November 69. White inner sleeve and no advertising, which I think supports this theory

 

John, thank you. Until I deduced this from talking to many, many people and seeing copy after copy of AR with a generic white EMI inner, I thought I was losing my mind.....

Anyway, I will say that I have also seen many, many UK copies of AR with no EMI inner at all, black or white. This supports my theory that many people stripped the black inner from AR, either to use it with their copy, or maybe to use it with The White Album or Yellow Sub.

 

I've got 4 early UK Abbey Roads. 3 with the misaligned apple sleeve (all of which had "Her Majesty" on the label) and 1 aligned apple (w/o "Her Majesty"). All have the standard white EMI sleeve.

All were bought second hand. But from these LPs plus what info I've gathered over time, there doesn't appear to be a rhyme or reason to the early issues of AR. Misaligned apple, aligned apple, Her Majesty, no Her Majesty, white inner, black inner...it seems that all combinations were available early on. The least plentiful combination appears to be misaligned apple, no Her Majesty, black inner.

 

I would completely agree with this statement. And, this would help explain why so, so many orig. heavy vinyl dark green Apple label copies of AR that I come across have no correct inner at all.

 

I have four UK pressings of Abbey Road:

YEX 749-2/YEX 750-1 (white Apple inner)
YEX 749-4/YEX 750-2U (white EMI inner)
YEX 749-6/YEX 750-4 (plain white inner)
YEX 749-6/YEX 750-4 (plain white inner)

Both YEX 749-6 sides were cut by Harry Moss (HTM). I was curious enough to run a quick comparison of sides one. I played Come Together from each of the four pressings. The YEX 749-4 sounded best to my ears/system, with more depth, more bottom end, and smoother, more natural highs. The YEX 749-2 and both YEX 749-6s sounded essentially the same, with a slightly more forward presentation, somewhat brighter, thinner sound compared to the YEX 749-4. The dead wax on the YEX 749-4 is very narrow—less than a quarter inch.

 

Wow, what an old post, however I have a few things to say.
There are 4 possible first pressings to own (All firsts, no matter what, should have the -2 -1 matrix codes):
1: Misaligned 'Apple logo' with white inner and 'Her Majesty' credit on record label (labelled 'THE END HER MAJESTY' as one song
2: Misaligned 'Apple logo' with black inner and 'Her Majesty' credit on record label (labelled 'THE END HER MAJESTY' as one song
3: Misaligned 'Apple logo' with white inner and NO 'Her Majesty' credit anywhere
4: Misaligned 'Apple logo' with black inner and NO 'Her Majesty' credit anywhere
Anything that's not a misaligned apple version is technically not a 1st pressing however you could count it as a 2nd edition 1st pressing
I also have no idea why there are so many variants, however I own the 1st one I listed with 'Her Majesty' and white sleeve. All you really need to remember is that 1st pressings have either Her Majesty or NO Her Majesty and they always should have the misaligned apple. All that I do know about the 1st press variants is that if yours have NO 'Her Majesty' then it's one of the 1000's put in the shops on opening day. They then 'corrected' this and put the infamous 'Her Majesty' on the label. The discs on these pressings are identical to 2nd edition 1st pressing, however, I believe the background colour of the apple on the vinyl label of the second edition pressings are slightly lighter and greener. That's all my knowledge on that! Hope it helped as I'm 80% sure I'm correct.
Remember, anything that's a 1st press should have YEX 749-2 and YEX 750-1 on the deadwax. Anything else is not a first pressing, whether it has a misaligned apple or not.
Source: My vinyls/www.jpgr.com

 

Your source is incorrect. All of the variations you list are 1st pressings. There is no such thing as a "2nd edition".

They were all part of the initial run and the various variations were all available from day 1. The other 1st press variation would be the black or white inner. These can also be found in any combination with the other variations.

These were just printing errors (the blacks inners were likely just leftovers from the White Album - they were also used with Yellow Sub). We have no idea whether they happened first, last, or in the middle of the initial run of labels/covers.

 

IMO Missaligned apple on the cover has nothing to do with first pressing. Covers were made by Garrod & Lofthouse, records by EMI - two different companies. Some early pressings has "missaligned apple" covers, some don't, no rules there. I have first pressing without "Her Majesty" in regular cover and second pressing with "Her Majesty" in "missalignet apple" cover. The whole "missaligned apple" story just an urban myth used sometime by dealers to jack up the price.
More importantly: all UK Apple or Parlophone pressings pressed before September 1970 have small copyright symbol (P) on the label next to the year of first release. Later reissues have bigger (P) , about same size as year of first release. That is how You can tell early pressing from later reissue.

 

Here's my first pressing. No Her Majesty on side two anywhere.

 

Ah...thanks for the heads up on the (p). My label has the small one. Now I know. Thanks again! Great sounding disc too.

 

You are welcome!

 

First press:

 

Second press:

 

Here's mine:

 

Aw shucks. Second press then. No problem. I still dig its sound!

 

I use to have what I believe was a third press, same matrix numbers (-2/-1), very thick vinyl, dark apple and large (P) symbol. It sounded great as well .