The Beatles "Introducing... The Beatles" Vee-Jay LP 1062 — Black Rainbow Label View Watchlist >
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Lot # F684
System ID # 29419405
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The Beatles "Introducing... The Beatles" Vee-Jay LP 1062 — Black Rainbow Label, Version 2
The first Beatles album released in the United States, pressed by Vee-Jay Records in early 1964 under catalog number VJLP 1062. This copy is the Version 2 / Ad Back configuration: the front cover carries the "ENGLANDS No.1 VOCAL GROUP" subtitle and the Vee-Jay oval logo (not the bracketed VJ), while the back presents the corrected twelve-track song list with "Please, Please Me" and "Baby It's You" in place of the originally withdrawn "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You." Both labels are the black "Rainbow" design with the bracketed VJ logo, consistent with the January–February 1964 production run. Matrices read 63-3402 on Side 1 and 63-3403 on Side 2. The back cover retains an original Lloyd & Wollmer Co. retailer sticker, Burlingame, California.
The Vee-Jay pressing history is one of the most thoroughly documented — and most heavily counterfeited — chapters in American record collecting. Vee-Jay held U.S. rights to the Beatles' EMI recordings before Capitol intervened, and the resulting tangle of pressings, reissues, cover variants, and outright fakes has kept specialists busy for sixty years. On genuine early pressings, the trail-off etchings are hand-inscribed and the label stock has a characteristic matte texture; later reissues and counterfeits often show machine-stamped matrices and glossier label paper. The combination of front-cover variant, label design, and matrix codes here is consistent with an authentic early-1964 pressing. Single-owner lot: acquired in the 1960s–70s.
Significance & Rarity
The Version 2 / Ad Back pressing occupies a well-defined position in the Vee-Jay hierarchy. Version 1 copies — with "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" on the back — were pressed in very small quantities before a Capitol injunction halted sales in late January 1964; Vee-Jay resumed with the corrected ("Ad Back") tracklist, making Version 2 the more commonly encountered genuine early pressing. That said, the total authentic early-run population across all variants is limited, and the ratio of counterfeits and later reissues to genuine copies in the current market is substantial. The Lloyd & Wollmer sticker adds a concrete geographic footnote: the record was purchased new at a California retailer, consistent with the 1964 release window.
CONDITION
Good overall and playable. The cover shows age toning, ringwear, edge and corner wear, and general soiling consistent with decades of single-owner storage; the Lloyd & Wollmer sticker remains fully affixed to the back cover. The disc carries surface scuffs and light scratches under raking light. Grade is visual; play-grading on a calibrated system has not been performed.
DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS
- Catalog No.: VJLP 1062 (LP 1062)
- Format: 12" LP, Mono
- Label: Vee-Jay Records — black "Rainbow" label, bracketed VJ logo
- Front Cover Logo: Vee-Jay oval (not bracketed VJ)
- Cover Variant: Version 2 / Ad Back ("Please, Please Me" / "Baby It's You" listed on rear)
- Matrix Side 1: 63-3402
- Matrix Side 2: 63-3403
- Retailer Sticker: Lloyd & Wollmer Co., Burlingame, CA
- Provenance: Single-owner collection; acquired 1960s–70s
