"INTRODUCING...THE BEATLES" Fake or real?
A BRIEF HISTORY
Released in January 10, 1964, "Introducing...The Beatles" is the American version of England's "Please Please Me". In 1963, Beatlemania was spreading like wildfire in England, Ireland, Sweden and Europe, still in the United States, The Beatles were basically unknown.
Capitol Records, EMI's subsidiary in the USA, refused to press Beatle albums, as they thought the Beatles were unfit for the American market. Their singles, "Please Please Me" and "From Me To You", even though they were massive hits in England, were bypassed by Capitol, so EMI chose Vee Jay Records, a Chicago based R&B and Jazz label, to issue The Beatles in the USA.
Both singles failed to gain any significant exposure, but still, there were plans for Vee Jay to issue the album "Please Please Me", which was already #1 in England. The release was halted in the summer of 1963 due to Vee Jay's dire financial situation and its failure to pay royalties on sales of the two Beatles singles and the sales of another EMI artist, Frank Ifield. Vee Jay's contract was cancelled, and thus, "Introducing The Beatles" was shelved.
In November 1963, Capitol finally agrees to issue Beatles records in the USA, putting in motion a massive promo campaign to issue the current Beatle album "With The Beatles" to the American market.
Vee Jay heard the news and decided to release Introducing...The Beatles, although they didn't have the legal rights to do it. Nevertheless, they took the gamble and issued ITB 10 days before Capitol's album, starting a legal battle that lasted until October 1964, in which Capitol prevailed and ITB went out of print.
In the late 60's and well into the 80's, the album was counterfeited and fake "Stereo pressings" of "Introducing The Beatles" made their way unto the hands of unsuspecting Beatles fans, even big retailers carried these dubious reproductions.
To this day, fans are still buying these albums, and they are all over the internet, so this article is made to help you distinguish the reals from the fakes.
ANOTHER QUICK HISTORY
VERSION 1 & VERSION 2
First pressings of ITB had the songs Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You. Realizing that they didn't have the rights for these songs, Vee Jay didn't want to feed the already burning fire and did a new pressing of the album, substituting both songs for Please Please Me and Ask Me Why. VERSION 1 includes the songs Love Me Do and PS I Love You while VERSION 2 has the songs Please Please Me and Ask Me Why. Simple, right?
THE "STEREO VERSION 1" ALBUMS WERE THE ONES COUNTERFEITED
Since stereo copies of VERSION 1 were printed in very limited quantities, not only due to the copyright issue of Love Me Do, but for the fact that Stereo recordings were not the norm in the early 60's, those were the ones that were reprinted. However, the manufacturers missed many of the characteristics and details of the originals, leaving a trail of signs that will help you determine the originals from the fakes.
There are dozens of details on the cover, label and the actual record, but we're going to focus on the most important ones and the one that will help you right away to determine if you will pay $5,000 or $5.
COVER DETAILS
1. ORIGINAL COVERS DON'T HAVE a BROWN BORDER
If you come across a copy that has a brown border around The Beatles picture, it is fake. No need to look elsewhere! At least you will know that the cover is fake. If the cover is, there's a big possibility that the record is.
2. GEORGE HARRISON DOESN'T HAVE A SHADOW!
Many counterfeit covers were so poorly printed that George Harrison's shadow is missing. If you see a cover with poor quality on the front picture, too light or having a pinkish tint it is a fake. But beware, some counterfeit covers do have George's shadow and have good quality printing (see below). But if your copy doesn't have George's shadow, it is definitely fake. Pay close attention to the quality of the printing. Blurry pictures and colors that don't seem right and look dubious are giveaway signs of fake covers. Original covers were made with glossy or semi-glossy cardboard. Rule of thumb: If the cover is fake, there's a big possibility that the record is.
NOTICE THIS FAKE COVER WITH GEORGE'S SHADOW.
3. "COLUMN BACK" COVER
Stereo copies of VERSION 1 (with Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You) WERE NOT printed with this type of back cover. They had either an "ad back" with pictures advertising other Vee Jay releases or a white, "blank back" with no print. Counterfeiters added a "column back" from the mono VERSION 1. Notice that the front cover has the SR 1062 catalog number (stereo) but the back cover has a VJLP 1062 corresponding to mono back covers. Rule of thumb: If the cover is fake, there's a big possibility that the record is.
There are more signs that can help you decide, like the way the jacket was constructed, printing marking dots, and others, but these are the easiest to identify and will help you right away to determine its veracity.
VJLP 1062 catalog number corresponding to a mono version 1 back cover
RECORD AND LABEL DETAILS
1. LABELS WITH "THE BEATLES" BELOW THE SPINDLE HOLE ARE FAKES
Original copies have both the album title and "The Beatles" ABOVE the spindle hole (see below). If your copy has the album title above the spindle hole and "The Beatles" below the spindle hole, it is fake. There's no way around it.
Notice how poor is the printing of the color band
NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE ON ORIGINAL AND GENUINE VEE JAY LABELS.
The picture on the right shows an ORIGINAL mono version 1 label. The original version 1 stereo labels have the word STEREO above the Vee Jay logo. Fake copies DO NOT have the word STEREO anywhere on the label.
Some fake "colorband" labels have both the album title and the band's name above the center hole, however, the colorband is poorly printed.
Original labels have bright silver print.
2. black labels with no colorband and glossy finish are fakes
The picture on the right shows a fake black label. The original black Vee Jay labels were printed on flat paper, not glossy. Notice the album title and The Beatles separated by the spindle hole. That is a dead giveaway.
Some fake black labels have both the album and band's name above the spindle hole, however, the VJ brackets logo shown here is way larger than the one printed on the original labels.
RECORD DETAILS
THE DEADWAX AREA On all ORIGINAL RECORDS it's 1 inch or less.
If your record has a deadwax area larger than 1 inch it is fake. Also, look closely, on original pressings you should see a machine-stamped "AudioMatrix, or the letters "MR" inside a circle, or the letters "ARP" in italics. Note that some originals do have the letters ARP etched, not machine-stamped.
Fake copies don't have machine-stamped logos or letters on the deadwax area.
Even though they wanted to pass them as STEREO copies, THE FAKE RECORDS PLAY IN MONO!!!!
Other Beatles records and 45rpm were counterfeited but Introducing The Beatles is the most counterfeited record in The Beatles US catalog.