Identifying George Harrison - All Things Must Pass True 1st pressing
1
biggestapple 13 posts 4.6 years
Recently I acquired George Harrison - All Things Must Pass. Lovely condition and sold as being a true 1st pressing but I have some doubts. On nearly every point it looks right. The cat# is right. The matrix numbers are correct. Poster, inners & box all look right to me but I heard that on the true 1st Eric Clapton isn't listed on the printed inner of the box. On mine, he is.
Can anyone offer any help here or advice on exactly what I should be looking for?
Not sure if I can help but I'll try... When All Things Must Pass came out in November 1970, I was in the 10th grade and short of funds. So I didn't buy my copy until probably a year or so later. I'm not sure what pressing mine is but it certainly is an early US pressing with the orange Apple labels and the cool George Harrison poster. Anyway, my copy does have the Eric Clapton credit given on the inside of the box lid along with the other "guest" musicians. If it will help I can get the matrix numbers for you. Let me know!
That's very kind of you. Do your labels say 1970 or 1971 then? Mine say 1970 which is why the only indicator I've found so far of it NOT being a 1st pressing is the inclusion of the Clapton credit.
The author includes this little bit of information: "Although Clapton's work went uncredited on U.K. editions of the boxed set for contractual reasons, his name did appear on the U.S. version and is rightfully restored worldwide on the anniversary edition C.D. The other point of interest with Eric is that "All Things Must Pass" has the recording debut of "Derek and the Dominoes", as all the group appear together (Clapton, Whitlock, Radle and Gordon)."
It would appear that the US version had the Clapton credit from the beginning.
Thanks. What's strange is that the labels indicate UK so either this is some sort of later variant UK pressing or the box & inners are US but the records UK. It is intriguing :)
Truly... I checked my labels and there are no dates given. That is typical for records of that era. The dates were printed on the labels and sleeves from the early '70s on. However, on the inner lyric sleeves, there is an indication of Copyright 1970 printed.
The first Uk issue had a UK printed box,inners,poster and UK pressed albums..It also had a rather curious orange bit of card which was supposed to act as a stiffener in the box..Also,the gold text on the spine is larger than later issues..Uk Issues are easily identifiable by the typeface and the weight of the vinyl..(USA isues have lighter weight vinyl).Later UK issues had USA printed boxes,posters,inners and smaller text on the spine (though there are some with UK boxes,but USA poster and inners!)..If you are looking at USA issues,then it is probable that Clapton would have been blanked out in the credits on a first issue..
If you have a UK issue then you need to know about matrix numbers,mothers and stampers (these can easily identify how early the record was pressed..Even to the first 500 off the press!)..Also..The EMI group (of which Parlophone/Apple were part) have a date code on the sleeve..This identifies the sleeve/box,but this may predate the vinyl as (initially) more sleeves/boxes were pressed than the vinyl..I have 6 copies of this album at the moment..I wil have to get them out to check!..
Tommy
Hi, there is a very easy way of identifying a true first press of this. Take a look at the run out-at 9 0clock there should be a number 1 and at 3 oclock there should be a letter G. This will indicate that it is one of the first 500 or so pressed. The lettering code GRAMAPHLTD is used to identify the press. G being the 1st, R the 2nd, P the 6th, GM being the 13th, RPG being the 261st, etc. The number 1 indicates the number of the Mother stamper a 2 would indicate the 2nd, etc.
A similar system is used for other labels such as DECCA where the code used is BUCKINGHAM (check it out)
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