Rubber Soul - Alternate Cover | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

In 1979, busily buying up all the Beatles albums, I switched from full price British pressings to much cheaper imports offered by a few shops in the Altrincham area. My copy of Rubber Soul had a totally different cover; it was one of the studio photos from 1965 used on the US album ‘Beatles 65’. The Beatles were each holding an object and I can recall that Paul and Ringo were each holding a large spring! I seem to recall that it was a Spanish pressing, but I didn’t keep it all that long because it was a poor pressing and I soon replaced it with a UK version. I recall swopping it for a 10cc album in 1982. 

I didn’t realise just how rare this record was until I logged onto Discogs and could not find it anywhere. (note – I now own 8 copies of RS on vinyl and CD). Nor did a google image search produce the goods.Joe’s international discography is the best I know on the net, but he lists the Spanish version with the traditional cover. The closest I can find is the Greek version with an alternate cover of the Beatles holding wine glasses.

I know that it existed, so I am really looking for confirmation of its date and country of origin, and if anyone else has such a copy. It could have been a bootleg I suppose, but all the other imports were legit (for the record my copy of PPM was a Dutch pressing with a 25th anniversary of LPs note along the side; and I still have my Dutch import of Yellow Sub which is an excellent pressing).