Beatles'65

Black Spine J-cards with three white bars were the second tape incarnation released in Canada. Like their blue spine siblings, these housed white or off-white shell cassettes, with white paper labels at first, then yellow labels. This copy houses a white shell with the text printed directly onto the plastic in black, with no paper label at all. It dates from around 1980, after the yellow paper label copy (K7.2228.3A.1) and about a year before the black shell (K7.2228.3A.3).

The printing uses the oval Capitol logo rather than the target logo found on the paper labels of K7.2228.3A.1, and the bilingual Canadian manufacturer line with the Mississauga address of Capitol Records-EMI of Canada Limited, which places it around 1980. See also K7.2228.3A.1 (yellow paper labels, circa 1974-1980) and K7.2228.3A.3 (black shell, silver print, 1981).

Availability

The black spine series ran since 1970, but this particular incarnation carries the white printed shell that appeared around 1980, after the paper-label era (K7.2228.3A.1) and about a year before the black printed shell (K7.2228.3A.3), which then ran alongside it.

Pressing Information

The shell is white plastic with the text printed directly onto it in black; there is no paper label. Each side reads "BEATLES '65" with the programme track listing beneath, the oval Capitol logo at the left, and PROGRAM 1 or PROGRAM 2 over the catalogue number 4XT-2228 at the right. Below the tape window is the bilingual manufacturer line: "Fabriqué au Canada · Disques Capitol · EMI du Canada Ltée / Manufactured in Canada · Capitol Records EMI of Canada Limited / 3109 American Dr Mississauga Ont L4V 1B2". The Mississauga address and the EMI company name both point to the early 1980s.

No photograph of the shell of this particular copy has been documented yet. The J-card shown is the one photographed on the K7.2228.3A.3 copy; the card is identical across the three shell types.

Different types of shells were often used simultaneously and seemingly, also interchangeably. There is no clear timeline based on the types of shells that were used.

The Black Spine design in Canada

Black spine tapes (with three bars) were found early (as early as 1970 with the release of Hey Jude) and overlap with blue spine releases (it is not known what made a release blue or black spine). They too had paper labels on a white plastic shell. Some albums remained on this variation until 1982.

Cover

The cover (or J-card) featured the "BLACK spine" design: a generic layout where the spine of the J-card is black with three white bars. Some titles were released on a light blue J-card, but these were usually reserved for half price budget releases and compilations. This title was only released on the black J-card format.

The front panel is black and reproduces the album cover in full, "GREAT NEW HITS BY JOHN • PAUL • GEORGE • RINGO" over the red "BEATLES '65" logotype, the umbrella photograph and the three boxed stage shots, with the A and B track listings printed below in two columns. The spine reads "BEATLES '65" over the catalogue number 4XT-2228 and the three white bars. The back panel carries the Canadian legal text: "CAPITOL" is a registered trade mark of Capitol Records Inc., manufactured and distributed in Canada under license by Capitol Records-EMI of Canada Limited, 3109 American Drive, Mississauga, Ontario L4V 1B2, followed by the unauthorized-copying warning. The same black J-card was used for all three shell types documented here (K7.2228.3A.1, 3A.2 and 3A.3).

Packaging

Tapes were sold in a black back jewel case, and sealed either in a firm wrap that was folded shut or in shrink wrap (earlier paper label tapes were mostly found in folded wrappers).