Vinyl: John Lennon - Power to The People - Genuine Apple Acetate *UNRELEASED* Verison

'Power To The People' began life at 'Ascot Sound Studios' at Tittenhurst Park on 22 January 1971. However, the session proved unsatisfactory Lennon abandoned it until the following month. The recording was completed at Abbey Road studios from 11-16 February 1971 where Lennon retained the basic Plastic Ono Band line-up, but as Ringo was on holiday Jim Gordon (of Derek And The Dominoes) played drums instead.

This version on this acetate retains much of the raw elements of the basic track, with Bobby Key's saxophone work to the fore. The 'marching' introduction is not yet in-place and the track explodes, after three short tone-bursts, right into a spirited sax-driven riff.

Despite the label's 'STEREO' indication, the acetate plays in MONO. It runs 3.35 mins (10 seconds less than the released version) and unlike the released version does not fade but breaks down at the end

The 45rpm, 7", 1-sided lacquer covered metal disc bears a typewritten Apple 'Custom Records' label with the '3 Savile Row' address around the upper rim

A tiny machine-stamped number (393AA) is present near the single centre hole on the blank side of the disc

Take a listen to the first minute of the acetate below, recorded directly & flat from this disc with no filtering or noise reduction added

CONDITION

Label: EXCELLENT

The typewritten label is clean & unworn except for the familiar adhesive bleed-through normally associated with these discs

Visual: GOOD/FAIR

Like so many genuine acetates, this has not been looked after as it should have been. The playing surface is clean but bears numerous light surface marks, most of which appear to be fingernail scuffs, together with the occasional light scratch. There are a handful of tiny chips to the edge of the disc but none intrude onto the playing surface and therefore do not affect sound or play in any way. The disc is not quite 100% flat when playing but my arm and stylus tracked it without any problem.

Sound Quality: GOOD

As you can hear in the sound-clip, some background is noticeable throughout. However the disc plays through without any skips, repeats or other major faults. With the right software in the right hands, the track could easily be restored to much higher quality audio.