How rare (or common) is the Beatles White Album with the Parlophone label?

I think we have a member with dual personalities.

 

Dear Producer!
Whille My Guitar Gently Weeps!

 

This is fantastic information! How common is it to find the Singaporean Beatles pressings described above? I'd like to get some of them, in particular Revolver and SPLHCB.

 

I think if you read the response tomorrow, you will see that it was simply factual, and I am sure that it was not meant as a put down.

 

Just look for "Rare Export 1 box!! Totally unprecedented!! "

that should find some

 

I haven't been actively looking for a little while, so others may have more up-to-date info than me, but when I was looking, I'd see on ebay on average of 1 copy each of the censored SPLHCB or White Album a month. Oldies was much more common; perhaps 1 or 2 a week. The two GH volumes are always available. Honestly can't remember when I last saw a Revolver though.

The trick though is the search - Singaporean pressings are quite often described as South East Asian, Hong Kong or Malaysian pressings, given the text that appears on the back cover (see below)...



And, as Easy-E alludes, you'll also see them described as "mega rare UK export pressings"!

NB: EMI Records (SEA) Ltd changed its name to EMI (Singapore) Private Ltd in 1971. So if you see a sleeve with the latter text, then it's post-1971 (however, the opposite isn't necessarily the case, due to existing stock etc).

Label to look for:


(thanks to socorro for the images - hope you don't mind me "borrowing" them!)

 

I'm among the least tolerant people here and even I found nothing remotely "smart ****" about Jae's response, nor was he "abrupt," nor should he exercise more "tact." He pretty clearly and directly (and politely) corrected a mistake you made. Not a big deal. In addition, as I'm sure you are aware, Discogs is user-edited and as I'm sure you are also aware, much of what is listed on there should not be taken as gospel.

 

Don't verbal me. NEVER said they should be taken as gospel. Your words not mine. I suggested though if you if you pick me up on an error, which incidentally was made in good faith, Discogs should be corrected also. Fair don't you agree?

 

May as well post my South African copy up too.

Note Revolution twice on the label in place of Revolution 1 and Revolution 9

 

I have seen nothing in Jae' s post, nor motion of theoceans's, to provoke your rude responses. This is a friendly forum, can we keep it that way.

Hazard of Oz

 

I can't imagine Off The Record would let something like that slip through for only $22? Guess I should read more of the thread and see.

GLAD I did not make an abrupt comment. Good stuff, Jae.

 

Always calm and rational as my previous postings over time demonstrate. And always look forward to polite and constructive comment. Over and out.

 

Wow! That certainly helps make up for it! Been looking for a loud cut Rubber Soul but can't ever find one under $70. My biggest score was The Beatles Second Album on Odeon ZTOX 558 in great shape (Jacket EX-NM and vinyl VG+) for 25 cents at a thrift store. Was recently offered $310 US from a retail shop so it's probably worth double I've been told.

 

Just curious...is there any reason other than collector purposes (which is a legit reason) why you want a loud cut Rubber Soul?

 

In the Summer of '69 my family and I went to Greece. As a brand spanking new 11 year old Beatle album collector there was NOTHING I wanted more than The White Album from which I had heard about a dozen songs on my local AM radio station back home. Upon learning that record stores in Greece carried Beatle albums I begged one of my aunts (who wanted to know what present she could get me) for "The Beatles' White Album". The day she showed up with it, i couldn't have loved a relative more. It was a top loader on Parlophone.

The complete idiot that I was-and continue to be, at times-I traded it away once I bought myself an Apple copy about a year later. So today, I own about 15 copies of TWA on vinyl, alone. They're various era pressings from the usual places; America, Britain, Japan, Germany, Italy, Russia...nice little list...but no Parlophone copy from Greece. To this day I kick myself for that.

 

It's not as rare as the one with Arista label on it.

 

Honestly, nope. I only want one for collecting purposes. I already have a 2nd pressing (which some still call a 1st) with -4/-4 matrices which should sound better than the loud cut which I've actually never heard.

 

Hello from South Africa

I have found this thread very interesting (albeit it rather old). I think I have the same album but need some help from all the experts who have been commenting here. It is a sad sad story though. My Aunt passed away a few years back and in cleaning up her house I 'inherited' a number of albums. One of them was 'The White Album'. She obviously had no idea about the value of such things so plastered a whole lot of pictures all over the front and back covers which have totally destroyed the 'whiteness' of them. They cannot be peeled off so I do not have any idea whether the sleeve was numbered or not. There are no inner sleeves (for the discs) or pictures etc except for the photo's and song titles printed on the inner sleeve. There is a strip of tape across the bottom of the gate-fold when open. The discs come out the top of each of the gate-fold covers and not the sides as would normally happen with an album. The label on the discs is Parlophone (black and silver) and the catalogue number is PCSJ 7067/ 7068. The label also mentions Northern Songs as well as 'An E.M.I. Recording'. The discs themselves are playable - not anywhere near mint condition but could probably be rated between 'good' and 'poor'. Such a shame this was not looked after better!! As we are in South Africa I am thinking this is either a South African pressing or an import to South Africa. Any idea if it would have any value - bearing in mind the damage that has been done to the sleeve? I have created an album of photo's of this album at Gary Gerber | Facebook »

 

That would explain why my Singapore copy of the Easy Rider soundtrack has at least one alternative track on it! I'll check when I get home...

 

Hi Gary, yours aunts white album is a standard issue South African one from 1968. SA was one of the countries that didn't have the Apple label licensed yet so it was issued on the then current black and silver Parlophone labels like many other countries that also didnt have their Apple licensing finalised.

This is the discogs entry for your record: The Beatles - The Beatles »

there are prices there and you should be able to determine what your might be worth

 

This is a standard 1968 South African pressing. IIRC these were not pressed from UK stampers (but I might be wrong on that). It's not particularly common, but it's not "rare" either.

From your description of the condition, I'm sorry to say that it has little to no value. Even in excellent condition, this LP isn't particularly valuable - I'd guess maybe $50 or so (or maybe a little more if it used UK stampers).

 

Hello, just joined this forum and would appreciate some help in a recent acquisition Ive made of an EMI (SEA) Ltd pressing of the White Album.
I'm puzzled because it appears that Singapore pressings post-1970 were minus the track 'Happiness Is A Warm Gun'. However mine does have that track. The label design is exactly as the example shown earlier in this stream and the inner sleeves are the usual 'SEA' design (white with the logo running horizontally about 3/4 of the way down it). Mine had the poster included but not the photos. I have to say Condition is lovely , certainly NM.
Does this mean I have a copy pressed between '68 when the presses started rolling and '70 when the legislation came in ? Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

 

Paging @Jae @marcb

 

At face value the assumption could be correct. But we have evidence that EMI (SEA) was pressing uncensored versions of albums for export within SEA after the ban commenced.

The telltale sign though is usually in the company name reference on the sleeve (assuming no swapping) and/or labels...

- Reference to EMI Records (SEA) Ltd (in full or abbrev) means 1970 and earlier
- Reference to EMI Records (SEA) Pte Ltd means late 1970 into 1971
- Reference to EMI (Singapore) Pte Ltd means late 1971+

Re sleeves, first SEA pressings came in UK made numbered sleeves, Parlophone label.

Then SEA made and numbered sleeves, Parlophone label.

Then SEA unnumbered sleeves, Parlophone and Apple labels.

For the White album quite a lot of variations exist in sleeve, inner sleeve and vinyl combinations so it can be hard to date the earlier copies.