Yellow Submarine Songtrack

Super rare 1999 UK EMI RED VINYL LP – a factory custom pressing and believed to be one of only 3 copies ever pressed in this non-standard colour, with barcoded gatefold picture sleeve, finished labels & correct machine stamped matrix numbers of ‘5214811 A-1-1-2’ & ‘5214811 B-1-1-1’. From the personal archive of a retired senior engineer with more than 25 years of service at the world famous EMI manufacturing plants in Blyth Road and Uxbridge Road, Middlesex. This copy has remained in his possession since its creation and is now being offered for sale for the very first time. This item remains unplayed & near ‘as new’ and is a must for archivist or Beatles investor.

FACTORY CUSTOM PRESSINGS

Factory custom pressings have earned themselves great cache amongst collectors, since they are always different to their commercial counterparts, often unique. From David Bowie’s Scary Monsters on purple vinyl and Jimi Hendrix’ Cry Of Love on red vinyl, to the clear vinyl of the Pet Shop Boys Introspective and the brown vinyl of Iron Maiden’s Twilight Zone they’re always attractive and always extremely rare. Such is the regard for these exclusive items that they rarely appear for sale, often being the last item a collector will part with when selling their treasured collection. They are equally subject to rumour and speculation – no-one has yet confirmed the existence of Led Zeppelin IV on white vinyl, although a solitary copy of its gold-marbled vinyl Canadian cousin has now surfaced and its existence has been well documented.

How these colourful pressings come into being can be equally mysterious. Whilst some are most likely to be ‘after-hours’ creations by the pressing plant night shift – (it must be boring watching a ton of black wax all night and a bit of colour would liven things up!) – there is always the possibilty of genuine ‘mistakes’ or mispressings, sometimes created when a designated coloured vinyl run finishes but the vinyl mix gets carried on to the start of the next run for an entirely different album. Invariably these ‘mistakes’ are destroyed as part of the quality control process but sometimes the odd copy will find its way to the market, either deliberately or inadvertantly!

Whatever the origin, the result is a collectors dream (or nightmare!). Most of you will already own the regular black vinyl edition of this Songtrack, also released as a limited edition pressing on glorious yellow vinyl; this particular copy has been manufactured in vibrant red wax (no, we’ve not heard of an alternate version where the Fab Four head off in a Red Submarine, either!). It is, however, a genuine pressing with all the correct machine-stamped matrix numbers visible in the run-out groove. Housed within the regular gatefold picture sleeve there is nothing externally to indicate the alternative red vinyl treasure inside.

This is one of only 3 known copies in existence.