E.P. - Long Tall Sally

Long Tall Sally - Front Cover	Long Tall Sally - Rear Cover

Label	Parlophone
Catalogue No.	GEP 8913
Matrix No.'s	A-side   B-Side First Issue : 7TCE 822-1N   7TCE 823-1N      (Plus Tax code of KT on both sides)
Release Date	19th June 1964
U.K. E.P. Chart Detail :	Entry Date : 4th July 1964 Highest Position : 1 ... for 7 weeks ... from 11th July 1964. Weeks in Chart : 37 Weeks
The Tracks :	Side 1     Side 2 Long Tall Sally     Slow Down I Call Your Name     Matchbox
Detail :	The Beatles fifth official E.P. ... and the First to contain previously unreleased material ! These tracks stayed exclusive to this E.P. for 12 years, until the release of the double album Rock 'N' Roll Music in 1976. Therefore most collectors would regard this as The Beatles finest E.P. "Long Tall Sally" and "I Call Your Name" were recorded in The Beatles first ever Sunday recording session, on 1st March 1964. "Long Tall Sally" was originally recorded in New Orleans by Little Richard and originally entitled, "The Thing". It's second incarnation was as "Bald Headed Sally", and finally it became "Long Tall Sally" when it was re-cut in Los Angeles. It was released on 12th March 1956 and reached number 6 in the U.S. but did better here in the U.K. where it entered the chart 8th February 1957 and reached number 3. "I Call Your Name" was written by John and originally given to Billy J. Kramer who released it on the B-side of their No.1 smash "Bad To Me", which was also written by John. "Slow Down" was recorded 1st June 1964 with John on lead vocal. It was written by Larry Williams who also originally recorded it, and released it 24th February 1958 when it was backed by "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". Incredibly this combination failed to chart for Larry on either side of the Atlantic ! "Matchbox" is sung by Ringo, and was also recorded on 1st June. It's writer Carl Perkins was present at the sessions, although he did not participate. Carl had originally released "Matchbox" on the legendary Sun label on 11th February 1957, but failed to chart anywhere. The E.P. topped the E.P. chart for 7 weeks, and also entered the singles chart, where it reached number 11. By early 1965 it had sold over a quarter of a million copies in the U.K. and over a million globally. The cover picture taken by Robert Freeman was taken in October 1963 with the Beatles standing on a wall beside the Stockholm Town Hall, and the sleeve notes on this occasion are by Derek Taylor. Finally, how do you spot original pressings ? .... The typeface on more recent issues is both more modern and smaller than on the originals, while the actual catalogue number was actually BIGGER on originals. Around the edge of the label, the words stating the rights of the publishers started with "The Parlophone Co. Ltd." and the date on the label is shown as "Recording First Published 1964", plus across the press-out centre the words, "sold in U.K. subject to resale price conditions, see price lists" are present. Post 1965 re-pressings have the rights starting with "The Gramophone Co. Ltd.", and the date is not preceded with "Recording First Published", but instead has a circled "P". Re-pressings were also made in the 1970's, these do NOT have "Sold in the U.K. ...". The sleeve also has marked differences. For starters (surprisingly !) the quality of new editions is worse, which suggests that EMI copied old sleeves rather than the actual photos ! ... I could demonstrate this with my copy of "A Hard Days Night", I have an original and a newer edition, and it is astonishing how much worse the newer one is ! Next, look out for the edges of the fold of the front cover onto the back. The edges of the fold used to be curved, now they are sharp, straight. Finally, the fold itself is no longer laminated, and the cover itself feels thinner than before.