Revolver Vinyl Value Guide: How to Spot a 1966 Beatles First Pressing and What It's Worth

Revolver was a number one album on both sides of the Atlantic: seven weeks at the top of the UK chart and six on the US Billboard chart, according to Wikipedia, with 2x platinum certification from the BPI and 5x platinum from the RIAA. Discogs lists 581 vinyl versions of it. The US stereo first pressing from Capitol's Los Angeles plant alone sits in about 13,000 Discogs collections. That supply sets the price of an ordinary copy.

So, as a rule of thumb rather than a quote:

• A played 1966 copy, UK or US, is a common record. The auctioneer Richard Winterton put early pressings at "more than £80" in 2018; copies with worn sleeves, writing or noisy vinyl go for less.
• A clean UK first pressing with the correct labels, a tidy laminated sleeve and the original inner bag sells well above a worn one, because collectors want the complete package.
• The withdrawn "Remix 11" mono (side two XEX 606-1) is the one standard copy with a real premium. Archived eBay results put it at a few hundred pounds, not thousands.
• Signed copies are a different market and are priced on the signatures. Provenance decides everything there.

The UK edition is the one collectors mean by "original Revolver". Check these points, all taken from Discogs release data for the 1966 copies:

1. Catalogue number: PMC 7009 for mono, PCS 7009 for stereo. The sleeve is printed with both numbers.
2. Label: black, with a yellow Parlophone logo and silver print. The rim text begins "The Gramophone Co. Ltd.", the label carries the line "Sold in the U.K. subject to resale price conditions, see price lists", and "Made in Gt. Britain" sits at the bottom. Many copies have an embossed KT tax code near the spindle hole. Labels from 1970 onwards are black and silver with two boxed EMI logos, so a yellow logo means a 1960s copy.
3. Label matrix: XEX.605 / XEX.606 on mono labels, YEX.605 / YEX.606 on stereo.
4. Runouts: stamped, not hand-etched. On the mono copies Discogs lists, side one reads XEX 605-2, and side two reads XEX 606-1, XEX 606-2 or XEX 606-3. The early stereo reads YEX.605-1 / YEX.606-1.
5. Sleeve: a front-laminated "flipback" sleeve. Two printers made them in 1966: Garrod & Lofthouse and Ernest J. Day & Co. Both are genuine first-year sleeves, so the printer alone does not date a copy.
6. "Dr. Robert": the sleeve spells the song "Dr. Robert". The earliest labels do too; the label soon changed to "Doctor Robert". A later label layout, with "Taxman" and "Eleanor Rigby" on the same first line and the credits reordered, appeared from late 1966 and is a 1960s copy, but not the first label.

Our guide to runout and matrix numbers explains how to read the dead wax, and first pressing identification covers the same method for any LP.

The one standard Revolver that collectors hunt for is the UK mono with XEX 606-1 stamped in the side two runout. On these copies "Tomorrow Never Knows" is mono remix 11, not the remix 8 used on every later copy. The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations describes the difference: the vocal is louder and clearer over the effects, and the fade is slightly longer, with more piano.

The mix was withdrawn almost at once. The same guide says it is believed to have been pressed only on the first day of UK manufacture. Richard Winterton Auctioneers, selling one in October 2018, repeated the story that John Lennon was unhappy with the final track and asked for it to be replaced. Later mono copies have XEX 606-2 or XEX 606-3.

How to check yours:

• Look at the side two runout for XEX 606-1. Side one is still XEX 605-2.
• Look at the small stamper letters next to the matrix. Several archived listings show 1G / 1R type codes on these early copies.
• It is mono only. A stereo PCS 7009 with YEX.606-1 is an early stereo copy, not Remix 11.

The remix is no longer exclusive to the 1966 vinyl: the 2022 Super Deluxe edition includes "Tomorrow Never Knows (Mono mix RM 11)" on its first Sessions LP. Collectors still pay for the original pressing, but the premium is modest, as the sales section below shows.

Capitol released Revolver on 8 August 1966 as T 2576 (mono) and ST 2576 (stereo). It has 11 songs, not 14: "I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" had already been used on Yesterday and Today in June 1966.

Signs of a first US pressing, from Discogs release data:

• Label: Capitol's black label with the coloured band around the edge (often called the "rainbow" label), with no "A Subsidiary of Capitol Industries" text in the rim print.
• Credits: songs credited to "Lennon-McCartney". Second pressings spell out the writers' full names.
• Runouts: T1-2576 / T2-2576 on mono and ST-1-2576 / ST-2-2576 on stereo, followed by lacquer codes. There is no "MAS 2576" runout.
• Plant marks: a triangle (the IAM logo) means Capitol's Scranton plant; a ✲ star means Los Angeles.
• Extras: Discogs, citing Perry Cox and Frank Daniels' price guide to the Beatles' American records, notes that initial copies had a yellow sticker reading "Includes the Beatles Fabulous 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Eleanor Rigby'!" and came in an orange Capitol inner sleeve.

On Discogs, the Los Angeles stereo first pressing is in about 13,000 collections and the two most-collected mono first-pressing listings in about 5,800 and 4,400. Record club copies carry an 8 in the catalogue number (ST-8-2576) and were made from 1969; see our guide to record club editions.

EMI companies pressed Revolver in many countries in 1966. The ones readers most often find:

• Germany: Odeon / Hör Zu SHZE 186 (stereo), red, white and gold Odeon label with a black Hör Zu logo. The label misprints side two's "I Want to Tell You" as "I Want To Love You".
• France: Odeon LSO 105 (mono) / SLSO 105 (stereo), red Odeon label, pressed by Pathé Marconi at Chatou. Mono runouts read XEX-605-21 / XEX-606-21. Not PMC 7009.
• Italy: Parlophon PMCQ 31510 (mono), with runouts dated 25-8-66. The label misspells "Gott To Get You Into My Life".
• Netherlands: Parlophone PMC 7009 / PCS 7009, sleeves printed by Habo in Amsterdam and labels marked "Made in Holland".
• Japan: Odeon OP-7600 (stereo), pressed by Toshiba on red translucent vinyl, sold with an obi and a four-page insert.
• Australia: Parlophone PMCO 7009 (mono) / PCSO 7009 (stereo), cut from imported UK mothers.
• Canada: Capitol T 2576 / ST 2576, the 11-song US running order, pressed by Compo and printed "Mfd. in Canada".

These are period pressings and collectable in their own right, mostly as listening copies or for country completists. The Japanese red vinyl and the German Hör Zu sleeve attract the most interest outside their home markets.

The table below picks the UK, US and international first issues, the Remix 11 copy, a record club copy and the reissues that matter, from the 581 vinyl versions on Discogs, with the side one runout where Discogs records it.

The reissues worth knowing:

• Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-107 (1986): half-speed mastered from the stereo master tape, lacquer cut by Stan Ricker, pressed in Japan by JVC.
• 2012 stereo remaster (PCS 7009, barcode 0094638241713): 180 g, cut at Abbey Road by Sean Magee from the 2009 digital remasters, pressed by Optimal Media in Germany.
• 2014 mono reissue: 180 g, cut by Sean Magee from the original analogue master tapes with no digital step, using the 1966 cutting notes. Its sleeve was made to replicate the 1966 original.
• 2022 Special Edition (released 28 October 2022): a new stereo mix by Giles Martin and Sam Okell. The single LP is half-speed mastered on 180 g vinyl (the runouts are signed by Miles Showell), and there is a limited picture disc. The 4LP + 7" Super Deluxe box adds two LPs of sessions, the original mono LP and an EP with "Paperback Writer" and "Rain".

A 1970s UK reissue with black and silver labels and two boxed EMI logos is a good-sounding period copy and costs a fraction of a first pressing. Our original vs reissue guide explains how to weigh the two.

These are the results we could verify on 12 October 2026. eBay results come from the popsike archive.

We found no auction or press record of an unsigned copy selling above $5,000; the highest documented sale is US$2,040 for a 1966 copy signed by Paul McCartney (Bonhams, Los Angeles, lot 1069, 2020). For scale, the record auction price for a signed Beatles LP is $290,500, paid at Heritage in 2013 for a Sgt. Pepper signed by all four (see our Sgt. Pepper value guide).

To price your own copy, look for sold results for the same catalogue number, runout and condition. Our guide to Popsike shows how to search past auction results.

Because Revolver is common, condition decides most of the price. A buyer can always find another copy, so a worn one has to be cheap.

• Vinyl: grade by playing it. Quiet passages such as the opening of "Here, There and Everywhere" and the end of "For No One" show up surface noise.
• Sleeve: the UK flipback sleeve is laminated on the front and folded over at the back. Look for lifting laminate, ring wear on the white Klaus Voormann artwork, seam splits and writing.
• Labels: check for spindle marks, stickers and names. On a UK copy, also confirm the label matches the record and that both sides read the same era.
• Inner sleeve: the original paper inner bag (UK) or the orange Capitol sleeve (early US) completes the package.
• Seller grades: ask for photos of both runouts and both labels before you pay a first-pressing price.

Our vinyl grading guide explains the Goldmine grades buyers expect, and how to sell vinyl records covers where to list a good copy.

If you collect the Beatles in order, our Beatles records value guide covers the other albums, and the White Album guide explains its numbered sleeves.

Start with the catalogue number on the label: PMC 7009 or PCS 7009 means a UK Parlophone, T 2576 or ST 2576 a US or Canadian Capitol. Then look at the label design (yellow Parlophone logo, no "subsidiary" text on Capitol) and read the side two runout. If it says XEX 606-1, you have the withdrawn mix.

VinylAI can do the first part for you: photograph the label and the app matches it to the exact Discogs release, including the country, the catalogue number and the runout details, and adds it to your collection.