INCLUDES A "MEET THE BEATLES!" STEREO LP WITH RARE VERY FIRST LABEL VARIATION
AND TWO "THE BEATLES ARE COMING!" PROMOTIONAL STICKERS ADHERED TO FRONT COVER

ITEM#: PRO226
CONDITION: NM TO VG+
PRICE: ------

FAB 4 COLLECTIBLES PROUDLY OFFERS THIS amazing, astonishing AND ultimate 13 piece ARCHIVE of original CAPITOL RECORDS PRODUCTION AND PROMOTIONAL material pertaining to the pre-release AND actual making of the legendary FIRST ever Capitol Records Beatles album, "MEET THE BEATLES!" that was released on January 20, 1964. This material is completely Authentic AND Original from EARLY January 1964, during the preparation and eminent firestorm that would hit America called "Beatlemania".

once owned and filed away by a Capitol Records employee during the beginning of The Beatles in the USA, ALL OF THIS MATERIAL WAS STORED INSIDE THE LP COVER OF THIS STEREO PRESSING OF "MEET THE BEATLES!", WHICH IS INDEED THE VERY RARE FIRST PRESSING HAVING THE FIRST LABEL VARIATION WITHOUT THE PUBLISHING CREDITS "BMI" OR "ASCAP".

EACH OF THE ITEMS WILL BE DESCRIBED INDIVIDUALLY ABOVE THEIR RESPECTIVE IMAGE.

PROOF SHEET
a 3" X 4½" piece of thin brownish type PROOF paper, with the actual MONAURAL (T-2047) FIRST LABEL copy. This was to examine the layout and to proof read the information. Interesting that they did not catch the fact that no publishers were listed:

PROOF LABELS
A PAIR OF UNUSED PROOF rainbow "Meet The Beatles" GLOSSY labels for both sides of the album, and are the legendary monaural FIRST LABEL VARIATION without the publishing CREDITS information. As you notice, the two labels and the proof sheet were at one time stapled together, hence the CLEANLY REMOVED tiny staple holes:

"CORRECTION" LABEL COPY & NOTICE OF COUPLING SHEETS
This is the correction "label copy and notice of coupling " sheet, stamped by production control on may 6, 1964. this is now the THIRD LABEL VARIATION production sheet FOR THE STEREO LABELS, where three songs are credited to "bmi". the main change on this sheet focuses on side 2, track (or 'band') 3, which is publisher name correction for the song "little child". (take note that the previous second label for "meet  the beatles!" had only one "bmi" credited song "i want to hold your hand", and all else were "ascap"). THE SHEET MEASURES 8½" X 5½", AND HAS THREE HOLE PUNCHES ON THE LEFT EDGE AND WAS MOST LIKELY IN A BINDER PRIOR TO BEING REMOVED.

take notice of the original approval date by dave dexter, "19 dec. 1963" at the bottom of the first side of the sheet. this date was for the very first approval of the album's track line-up, which at that time had no publishing credits. DAVE DEXTER WAS the Beatles United States Producer of all Capitol Record releases. It was his approval of which songs appeared on the Capitol ALBUMS and on most of the Beatles Capitol LPs, his name is found on the back cover.

PROOF LABELS
these labels coincide with the corrected label copy sheet above. they are A SET OF UNUSED PROOF rainbow "Meet The Beatles!" GLOSSY labels for both sides of the album, and are the stereo third LABEL VARIATION. As you notice, the two labels were at one time stapled to THEIR own proof sheet, hence the CLEANLY REMOVED tiny staple holes:

"CORRECTION" LABEL COPY & NOTICE OF COUPLING SHEETS
This is the correction "label copy and notice of coupling " sheet, stamped by production control on maRCH 14, 1966. THIS IS WHEN This revised label becomes the FOURTH AND FINAL LABEL VARIATION production sheet. IT IS NOW "BMI" DOMINATED: TEN SONGS are "BMI", AND ONLY TWO TO "ASCAP". IT IS CHOCK Full of the new changes to be made, most notable where the small black hands pointing to the songs that needed THE Publishing rights corrections TO BECOME "BMI" CREDITS. Among the other noted info here is again the red rubber PRODUCTION CONTROL stamp on the back, dated MARCH 14, 1966. THE SHEET MEASURES 8½" X 5½", AND HAS THREE HOLE PUNCHES ON THE LEFT EDGE AND WAS MOST LIKELY IN A BINDER PRIOR TO BEING REMOVED:

"MEET THE BEATLES!" LP ALBUM RARE FIRST LABEL VARIATION
CAPITOL ST-2047 STEREO, RELEASED: 1/20/64, EAST COAST, #3 COVER
WITH TWO "THE BEATLES ARE COMING!" CAPITOL RECORDS PROMOTIONAL STICKERS ADHERED TO FRONT COVER

NO DOUBT THESE EARLY COPIES WERE SWEPT OFF THE SHELVES DURING THE THE ONSLAUGHT OF BEATLEMANIA AND MOST HAVE BEEN PLAYED BEYOND RECOGNITION AND TOSSED OUT. TODAY, ONLY ABOUT 20 TO 25 EXAMPLES HAVE BEEN VERIFIED SO FAR TO SURVIVE AND OF THOSE ONLY ABOUT 12 STEREO COPIES HAVE BEEN VERIFIED. MOST OF THOSE COPIES ARE IN VG OR LESS CONDITION. THIS EXAMPLE IS A QUALITY, ULTRA RARE STEREO EXAMPLE OF THIS VERY HISTORIC ALBUM. MOST VITAL STATISTIC IS THAT SINCE ONLY FIFTEEN PERCENT OF CAPITOL'S BEATLES ALBUMS MANUFACTURED PRIOR TO 1966 WERE STEREO, IMAGINE THE SCARCITY OF THE FIRST LABEL (NO PUBLISHING CREDITS) STEREO PRESSINGS.

THE COVER GRADES A VG++, WITH SOME HANDLING WEAR EVIDENT, YET NO SPLITS, NO TEARS, NO RINGWEAR. THE RECORD is a BEAUTIFUL SHIMMERING Near Mint MINUS. THE MOST IMPORTANT Labels are a GLEAMING AND GLOSSY Near Mint. WITH ORIGINAL 1ST ISSUE ROYAL BLUE INNER SLEEVE:

CAPITOL EMPLOYEES WERE WARNED OF THE ARRIVAL OF "FANTASTIC QUANTITIES" OF "THE BEATLES ARE COMING" STICKERS. THE CATCHPHRASE, WHICH WAS THE IDEA OF BROWN MEGGS (DIRECTOR OF EASTERN OPERATIONS AND CORPORATE PUBLIC RELATIONS), WAS DERIVED FROM THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR CRY "THE BRITISH ARE COMING!". ACCORDING TO A CAPITOL RECORDS MEMO, IT STATED THAT THE 3" X 2" ORANGE AND WHITE STICKERS WERE TO BE PLACED "ANYWHERE AND EVERYWHERE THEY CAN BE SEEN... WE LITERALLY WANT YOUR SALESMEN TO BE PLASTERING THESE STICKERS ON ANY FRIENDLY SURFACE AS THEY WALK DOWN THE STREET OR AS THEY THEY ON RADIO OR RETAIL ACCOUNTS."

THE MEMO ALSO PROMISED SALES MANAGERS THAT THEY WOULD BE RECEIVING "BOTH PROMO ALBUMS AND JACKETS". EMPLOYEES WERE ALSO INSTRUCTED TO INCLUDE A COPY OF THE SPECIAL BEATLES ISSUE TABLOID (ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS ARCHIVE BELOW) WITH EACH PROMO ALBUM GIVEN TO DISC JOCKEYS:

capitol records public relations typed note
a 6¼" X 4½" sheet of paper with capitol records public relations letterhead, dated march 11, 1964 and sent to a "miss brown", whom most likely was a member of the press corp. the note offers her the beatles contact information in england as mr. brian epstein, at his nems enterprises offices in london:

"THE BEATLES CAMPAIGN" PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS
To complete this great "Meet The Beatles" Archive are actual Promotional PHOTOGRAPHS THAT WERE PRODUCED AND distributed BY THE CAPITOL RECORDS PUBLIC RELATIONS DEPARTMENT, AND was to be relayed to  Record Executives and Sales Managers so they can be "fired up to the maximum degree for the start of the Beatles Campaign". Capitol was readying its mighty sales force to make 1964 the "Year Of The Beatles".

INCLUDED IS THE VERY RARE 9" X 10" HAND-OUT PHOTOGRAPH FOR CUSTOMERS WHO PURCHASED THE "MEET THE BEATLES!" CAPITOL ALBUM IN  SELECT CHICAGO, ILLINOIS RECORD STORES IN EARLY 1964. IT'S NOT CLEAR IF THIS WAS SPONSORED BY CAPITOL RECORDS OR A LOCAL PROMOTION ONLY, BUT WHAT IS CLEAR IS THAT THESE FLAT STOCK PHOTOS WERE GIVEN TO LUCKY EARLY SHOPPERS FOR THE LP IN THE CHICAGO AREA. TODAY, VERY FEW HAVE SURVIVED AT ALL. THE BACK SIDE IS BLANK. THE PHOTO FEATURES THE CLASSIC DEZO HOFFMAN SHOT TAKEN FROM THE BACK OF THE LP COVER. THIS EXAMPLE IS IN VG+ CONDITION, DISPLAYING SOME VERY LIGHT HANDLING AND SPORADIC AGE MELLOWING:

ALSO FOUND IN THIS PACKAGE WERE TWO 8" X 10" GLOSSY PHOTOGRAPHS, IDENTICAL IMAGES TO THE HAND-OUT PHOTO ABOVE, BUT THESE WERE INDEED PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY CAPITOL RECORDS DURING "THE BEATLES CAMPAIGN". THE FIRST PHOTO IS NEAR MINT, AND THE SECOND IS NEAR MINT MINUS DUE TO A SMALL TEAR IN THE PHOTO OVER RINGO'S LEFT LEG:

this tabloid "National Record News : Special Beatles Issue" was sent in mass quantities to Capitol's sales force. This issue publication dates to January 1964. It is a FOUR page fold open newspaper type promo sheet and actually printed on newspaper stock paper. THE 14¾" X  11½" TABLOID HAS PICTURES AND STORIES ON THE GROUP, AND CONTAINS TALES OF BEATLEMANIA AND FASHION NEWS REGARDING THE BEATLE HAIRDO, BIOGRAPHIES, INCLUDING THAT OF MANAGER BRIAN EPSTEIN, WHO IS CALLED THE "FIFTH BEATLE". THERE ARE ERRORS ON THE HEAD SHOTS WHERE PAUL IS IDENTIFIED AS JOHN, GEORGE AS PAUL AND JOHN AS GEORGE. ONLY RINGO IS CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED. THE CONDITION IS NA WONDERFUL NEAR MINT MINUS WITH SOME AGING AND MINOR HANDLING WEAR:

This package can only be described as the Ultimate Collectible for Beatles USA collectors, especially those interested in Authentic Capitol Records Artifacts from the very beginning. ALL of this material was Produced AND used BEFORE the actual record ever was released, and again - all truly one of a kind items, ALL entirely original and authentic from late 1963 THROUGH TO EARLY 1966.