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The Ultimate Beatles Item Is Going Up For Auction: White Album No. 0000001

The Beatles’ self-titled album from 1968, is famous for its sleeve designed by pop artist Richard Hamilton, in collaboration with Paul McCartney. Hamilton’s design was in stark contrast to Peter Blake’s vivid cover art for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and consisted of a plain white sleeve. The band’s name was discreetly embossed slightly below the middle of the album’s right side, and the cover also featured a unique stamped serial number, “to create”, in Hamilton’s words, “the ironic situation of a numbered edition of something like five million copies”. In 2008, an original pressing of the album with serial number 0000005 sold for £19,201 on eBay.

Get ready for what could be the ultimate item from this era.

A UK first pressing mono copy of the double LP, The Beatles aka The White Album with first press green apple labels, each disc with a “Factory Sample, Not for Sale” sticker, housed in a top-loading, fully laminated thick card stock “Garrod & Lofthouse” cover listing stereo and mono catalog numbers on the spine, numbered: No.0000001 is going up for bids at Julien’s. It has been widely known among collectors that the four members of the Beatles kept numbers 1 through 4, but it was not commonly known that Starr was given the No.0000001 album. Starr has stated that he kept this album in a bank vault in London for over 35 years and McCartney says it originally belonged to John Lennon because, apparently, he shouted the loudest. Up to this time the lowest numbered UK first mono pressing album to come to market is No.0000005, which sold in 2008 for just under $30,000. This No.0000001 UK first mono pressing owned by a member of the Beatles is the lowest and most desirable copy that will ever become available.

As the record manufacturing plant certainly had every machine available simultaneously pressing copies of this album it is impossible to say with certainty which records were truly the very first off the press, but these discs were certainly among the very first. The album covers however were numbered in sequence, insuring that this No.0000001 sleeve is the very first finished cover. The top load sleeve is in near mint minus condition and would be near mint if not for the bumped upper right front gatefold corner, but it is overall very clean and fresh with very minor abrasions.
Both discs were pressed from the very first Masters as indicated by the -1 matrix numbers on all four sides. The records are contained in their original black inner sleeves and feature “Factory Sample Not For Sale” labels on the whole apple side of disc 1 and on the cut apple side of disc 2. All labels feature the “Sold in UK.” text but omit the “An EMI Recording” text found on later editions. Together with the four original UK portrait photos and UK lyric poster, both in mint condition.

Starting bid is $20,000, and the final sale estimate is set at $60,000. You can start the bidding here.

Jack White and Third Man Records to open first new Detroit record pressing plant in 50 years

As you know might have heard earlier this summer, Third Man Records is opening up a satellite store in Detroit’s Cass Corridor, or as Pitchfork calls it “where music history was made.” Well, it turns out that was only the first of the label’s plans for the building at 441 West Canfield Street, which they purchased last year with Detroit manufacturing company Shinola. Third Man will be opening a vinyl record pressing plant, and in it we will run brand new record presses. There’s a bottlenecking in the record pressing industry right now – so much glorious demand, so few presses. They want to help ease the flow, and they want to bring more “real-life manufacturing jobs back to Detroit.”

Jack White and company have purchased eight presses from German startup Newbilt, and  expect to happen mid-2016.

Here’s what Pitchfork wrote about the pressing plant after speaking with Ben Blackwell about their plans.

“While the pressing plant won’t be operational when Third Man opens on Black Friday, they eventually plan to house at least eight working presses. A window in the shop will let customers see the manufacturing floor as part of Third Man’s ongoing initiative to educate the public about vinyl culture and show that, as Blackwell puts it, ‘all this stuff is alive and well.’

While the manufacturing arm definitely means that Third Man will have quick access to pressings of their own output, Blackwell says the decision to open the plant is a selfless act. He argues that more overall record-pressing capacity eases the pressure on plants like United Record Pressing in Nashville, which continues to press Third Man releases, and Archer—both of which are backed up and reportedly turning away customers. Also, while no plans are currently in place, Third Man hope to press more than just their own records on-site. Potentially, the plant could offer a new option for young artists and DIY labels. ‘Part of the concern in this world is that vinyl can very easily turn into an exclusionary thing,’ Blackwell says. ‘But this is going to make it easier for a little punk band to make 300 copies of a 7-inch’.”

There you go. Yet another reason why Jack White is brilliant.

 

That Moment Sam Hunt Left Football For Nashville

Sam Hunt began college at Middle Tennessee State University, where the football coach had him returning punts instead of playing quarterback, then transferred to the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he had a promising junior year (58 percent completion percentage) followed by a disappointing senior year (10 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and only two wins in 12 games). In May 2008, while his pals were graduating, Hunt tried out for the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs as an undrafted free agent. The Chiefs saw him play and didn’t invite him to training camp. Back home, Hunt shocked his relatives by announcing that he was moving to Nashville to be a country songwriter. No one in the family even knew he had been writing songs since he was 18.

“Maybe I was insecure, because being a football player was my identity. I didn’t see myself that way,” says Hunt. “But it took a long time before I decided to test out a song I’d written for my roommates, who were some of my closest buddies. I felt trapped inside a stereotype and was a little afraid to step out of it.”

Two months after his NFL tryout, Hunt stuffed a couple of mattresses into his mom’s minivan, raided the freezer for provisions and moved to Nashville with his hometown pal John Worthington, who’s now his road manager. Worthington was Misfit No. 1. “We were scraping the bottom of the barrel for years, just trying to get by,” says Hunt.

Via Billboard

Man invents anonymous messaging service handwriting your message on a potato. He makes $10k a month.

His girlfriend called it “the stupidest idea” she’d ever heard of, but this young Texas entrepreneur is now making good money mailing people potatoes enscribed with special messages.

Guess what’s killing the live music scene in Australia. Tinder.

Cherry Bar owner James Young has sparked a debate about the impact of dating app Tinder on the live music scene with a Facebook post recounting a recent conversation with another promoter in Melbourne.

The pair were chatting about how difficult 2015 has been for the business with Young suggesting that the current downturn could be attributed in part to the “diabolical Australian Dollar” and the closure of the Palace. Young says that those factors have led to fewer international tours and smaller crowds at Cherry especially during the week. But his un-named counterpart proposed a different theory laying the blame – at least in part – on Tinder.

“Tinder has destroyed the live music and pub scene,” the anonymous promoter told Young. “It’s bleak out there for club owners. These are dark and challenging times. We need to get young people off their phones and back into our bars to actually socialise or we’re all going to go out of business.” According to the anonymous promoter, the pattern follows the example of Grinder’s impact on the gay scene with the app replacing clubs as a place to pick up. “Now we are seeing the same thing with Tinder … [it’s] killing off clubs and pubs all over Melbourne and Australia. And when they take their dates out for the first time, they try to impress them with some chic dining experience, rather than a rowdy live music experience. I’m telling you, Tinder has a lot to answer for.”

Via Faster Louder

Steven Van Zandt On Why Eric Clapton Is The Most Important Guitarist Ever

“Eric Clapton is the most important and influential guitar player that has ever lived, is still living or ever will live. Do yourself a favor, and don’t debate me on this. Before Clapton, rock guitar was the Chuck Berry method, modernized by Keith Richards, and the rockabilly sound — Scotty Moore, Carl Perkins, Cliff Gallup — popularized by George Harrison. Clapton absorbed that, then introduced the essence of black electric blues: the power and vocabulary of Buddy Guy, Hubert Sumlin and the three Kings — B.B., Albert and Freddie — to create an attack that defined the fundamentals of rock & roll lead guitar. Maybe most important of all, he turned the amp up — to 11. That alone blew everybody’s mind in the mid-Sixties. In the studio, he moved the mic across the room from the amp, which added ambience; everybody else was still close-miking. Then he cranked the fucking thing. Sustain happened; feedback happened. The guitar player suddenly became the most important guy in the band.”

– Steven Van Zandt in Rolling Stone Magazine

Adele’s Mind-Blowing Isolated Vocals From Saturday Night Live Performance

Do you want to know why Adele’s “Hello” is a critical and commercial success, topping the charts in 28 countries including the United Kingdom and the United States, where “Hello” became the first single ever to sell one million downloads in a release week? Or why it has since compiled over 100 million views on YouTube within 5 days? Or perhaps the reason it is the second-fastest video to hit 100 million YouTube views ever and the fastest to reach 100 million on Vevo previously held by “Wrecking Ball” by Miley Cyrus back in 2013? Or the compelling answer as to why the song reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, with a combined first week sales of 330,000 copies? Or the reason the song sold 1,112,000 digital downloads and 61.2 million streams in its first week, resulting in “Hello” debuting at number one on the Billboard Hot 100?

This. Just this.

How Big Is Justin Bieber On The Charts? THIS Big.

At # 2, 4, and 5 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100 chart, Justin Bieber joins elite company: only two other acts have charted at least three songs in the top five at once: the Beatles, for eight weeks in 1964 (including the entire top five on April 4, 1964), and 50 Cent, for two weeks in 2005. Bieber and the Beatles are the only acts to earn the honor as a lead artist on all three songs.

Bieber makes additional history with a record 17 songs on the Hot 100 simultaneously, passing the mark of 14, previously notched by the Beatles and Drake.

Via Billboard

New Steven Wilson album “4 ½” coming in January 2016

22nd January will see the release of a new Steven Wilson album “4 ½”, so titled because it forms an interim release between Steven’s recently released fourth album Hand. Cannot. Erase. and the next studio album.

4 ½ comprises 6 tracks with a total running time of 37 minutes. 4 of the songs originated during the sessions for Hand. Cannot. Erase., and one from the recording sessions for the previous album The Raven that Refused to Sing. The final track is a version of Don’t Hate Me, a song originally recorded by Porcupine Tree in 1998, and is based on a live recording made on the recent tour of Europe with additional recording later done in the studio. The vocals on this new version are sung as a duet between Steven and Ninet Tayeb.

Also appearing on the album are members of Steven’s band over the last few years; Adam Holzman, Nick Beggs, Guthrie Govan, Dave Kilminster, Craig Blundell, Marco Minnemann, Chad Wackerman, and Theo Travis.

4 ½ will be released by Kscope on CD, 180 gram vinyl, and blu-ray, with all formats housed in a beautiful die-cut sleeve photographed by Lasse Hoile and designed by Carl Glover. The blu-ray (audio only) edition includes high res stereo, a 5.1 mix of the album, and a bonus 5.1 mix of the new version of Lazarus (recently included on the Transience vinyl compilation). The vinyl edition will include a download code for the album in a choice of FLAC or mp3. The album will also be available digitally on 22nd January from iTunes, Amazon, Google Play & Apple Music.

Celebrities Fail Their Auditions for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’

J.J. Abrams shares The Force Awakens screen tests for Daisy Ridley and Sofia Vergara (Cecily Strong), John Boyega, Emma Stone, David Beckham (Taran Killam), Jon Hamm and more.

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That Eric Alper
6-time nominee for Publicist of the Year during Canadian Music Week, a 16-time JUNO Award winner overseeing PR campaigns, and have also been truly honoured to work with some of the biggest and most important artists of our time.

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