Unreleased Original 1st Gen Proof Album Cover artwork for The Beatles Ballads

Beatles Rare Unreleased Original 1st Gen Proof Artwork for The Beatles Ballads Album
A Original Production Artwork
An extremely rare 1st generation unreleased original proof of the BEATLES album 37 years old.
THE BEATLES BALLADS .
PARLOPHONE PCS 7214
This is an opportunity to own a one-off piece of Music-Rock and Roll Memorabilia
This 1980 1st generation version of the cover differs greatly from the released version in both colouring and design.
The back cover is without the track seperator lines , has no bar code and reversed positions for the record company logos. The front cover is a much paler version than the released cover . The typeface on the reverse is not bold compared with the released version.
In excellent condition and a true rarity and part of the Beatles recording history and popular culture
Measuring approx 15×25” Likely to be the only one in existence in this format.

Finding any original proof of a Beatles album released in the lifetime of the Four Beatles is a rare occurence. To find one in an unreleased format increases its value. One of three flat proofs held by the Art Studio. The other two are 2nd generation, later proofs, which although are closer to the released version, still differ.

Some proofs never made it past the ‘drawing board’ and as such differ from the released version and are extremely collectable. In the digital age they no are no longer produced and therefore are becoming increasingly sought after .

With a hand-signed letter of authenticity from the Art Studio commissioned to produce the artwork for the record company.
From the collection of the Shoot That Tiger Studio Archive.

Label Parlophone Catalogue No. PCS 7214 Release date 13th October 1980 Total time
U.K. Album Chart Detail : Entry Date : 15th November 1980
Highest Position : 17
Weeks in Chart : 16
Detail : The first Beatles 20 track L.P. and the first Beatle album of the 1980’s … although yet again, nothing rare,
no special versions and ten of the twenty tracks had been issued just three years earlier on the Love Songs album !
Once again, E.M.I. had minimal advertising for this L.P. (why bother releasing it then ??) … and consequently, although it did enter the chart one month after release, it was only in the lowest part (below the top 30).
After John’s murder the entire Beatles catalogue was back in demand, and with this item being relatively new in the shops, sales escalated and it moved into the Top 20.
The cover art was taken from the excellent Alan Aldridge book The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (recently reissued as The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics) and is a painting by John Patrick Byrne which was used in the foreword on page 6. "Patrick" had also done album covers for other artists in the early seventies.

Price on request