"Isn’t It a Pity" - George Harrison

Todd, in all my travels/research, I have never either seen or known of any
other U.S. 45 pressing of this song, besides the rare, full-Apple-on-both-
sides (to me, indicating a double-A side Apple intent) commercial 45
pressing. Not even a stock copy with a black star on it, which I've
understood sometimes indicated it was a copy that Apple sent to radio (I
think all the Badfinger hits on Apple had this variation.) Similarly, I never
heard anything but the full, 7 min + version on AM radio as a late 1970
current, and I did hear it quite a bit.

But Todd, guess what's now on eBay, as of 6-11-13, for two more days? A
"My Sweet Lord" test pressing! A seller named "bjimmy9001", states he
has run "Vinyl World Records Plus" since 1959. Half of his store's music
categories are either Beatles and/or related, indicating to me he would
have some level of Beatle collector expertise. He states in this listing that
the "country of origin" for the TP is the United Kingdom. While he may be
right, personally, I have my doubts, for three reasons: 1) It has the larger,
US 45 hole, not the smaller UK one, with no indication that one was once
there, and had been removed/pushed through. 2) It has that telltale,
unique to circa-1970 US Capitol pressings, small "groove pattern", around
the entire outer edge of the paper label, and 3) Although I'm sure the UK
did have white label 45 test pressings made, I haven't personally seen any
in my travels (not that I've ever really looked for one!)

So let's just say, for the sake of argument, that the TP now on eBay *is* of
US origin, and the seller is wrong. (Any Beatle experts? Help!) The good
news? He's offering 35% off of his previous sale price. The bad news? That
means his "Buy It Now" price has dropped down to a paltry $536.25, from
his former $825.00 price! (Luckily for us, this merchant claims to have
recently taken a "long, hard look at his previous prices", and adjusted
them, to reflect "today's real market values.") As you can see, we
consumers are now obviously benefitting from this guy's deep recent,
price cuts. ($%#@&!)

So Todd, I guess it's now or never. But wait! For still over 500 bucks, do
we even know what's on the other side of this TP? Nope. Because only one
side of the TP is pictured. (BJimmy has clearly been way too busy patting
himself on the back, for his recent pricing epiphany!) This merchant also
says that, of late, he's now going the extra mile for us buyers, by offering
most of his items as "Buy It Now." (Which I *do* much prefer - what a
guy!)

Anyone else happen to have some spare change around? BJimmy's new,
lower prices are still *way* too "big boy table" for me.....

Edited by jimct

Thanks for the enlightenment, Paul! Excellent info! (FYI, I believe the copy I
saw from Paul's link is exactly the same as the alleged "UK pressing" now for
sale on eBay. To see Paul's link, leave out the "space typo" Paul made, as to
George's last name, "Harr ison". It then works fine. And that Collectors
Frenzy TP copy went for just 77 bucks, only 4 months ago, Now that's more
like it - BJimmy from eBay, take note!)   

And I just ordered that Bruce Spizer book from Amazon. In my experiences,
buying quality reference books about music is always a good thing! And
speaking of that, Paul, when can I expect my new Hot 100 Singles book from
RR to arrive? :)

Edited by jimct

jimct wrote: I have never either seen or known of any other U.S. 45 pressing of this song, besides the rare, full-Apple-on-both- sides (to me, indicating a double-A side Apple intent) commercial 45 pressing.

Is the double-green apple pressing of MSL/IAAP all that
rare, or is there a rare variation of it? Every original
copy I've ever seen was this way.

Just heard from Bruce Spizer and he's not aware of any shorter releases for "Isn't It A Pity". He also informs me that he's working on an electronic version of his Beatles Vee-Jay book. Again, I highly recommend all of his books to anyone who's interested in the different Beatles pressings. Those books are the gold standard for this type of research.

To put a bow on this one, my commercial 45, confirmed as Apple 2995, with
deadwax of "S45X 47404", has a listed time of (7:10), but an actual time of
(7:06). FYI, the three current db CDs that feature the hit version of this song
run either (7:06) or (7:07).