Beatles'65

This series of "colored J-card" releases features a design unique to Canadian tapes for Capitol. K7.2228.6.1 was originally pressed on a black shell with silver print. This variation is recognized by its color J-card (each title had a different color) and its 4XT catalogue number. Numbers changed to "C4" in the early 1990s.

Availability

The 4XT color J-card series was introduced in 1985, but K7.2228.6.1 is a late pressing of it. Its shell is printed in the regular font rather than the robot font of the 1980s tapes, which places it between about 1990 and 1991, after the robot font was dropped and before the catalogue prefix changed to C4 (see K7.2228.7B.1 and K7.2228.7E.1). A white shell version (K7.2228.6.2) is documented too.

The color J-card Design

While the USA continued using a rather random and custom cassette design, sometimes using old layouts from the 1960s, sometimes playing with the shape of the album cover design to fit the information text, Capitol of Canada proposed a uniform and coherent J-card design. These standardized the placement and size of album covers, titles, band names and legal text, while sporting a vivid color palette unique to every release (the authors named this design the "color J-card").

This made each release unique, while still retaining a clear standardized "capitol branding". These were particularly striking when lined up side by side, creating a rainbow collection of albums where background colors, text and a small separator square varied in flavour, but not in structure, making these Canadian releases very unique and recognizable.

The design remained relatively stable until 2000, with only minor details updated through time (C4 number in 1991 (7A), Bar codes and XDR logo in 1992 (7B/7C), Apple on the J-card in 1994 (7D/7E), Gold color J-card for UK format albums in 1987 (8 and 9A), smaller and longer number in 1995 (9B)).

The Beatles'65 J-card in this series is white, with a small turquoise separator square and "THE BEATLES / BEATLES' 65" in red beside the album cover, reproduced in full. The back panel lists the two programmes ("1" and "2" in turquoise boxes) beside the legal text, without the bar code.

**Note** Only the back catalogue would retain this design after 1993, while new releases (starting with the reissue of the remastered red/blue albums) each featured a unique custom sleeve design after 1993.

Pressing Information

This variation features a similar black shell with silver print as the previous black spine variation, but with a ribbed texture instead of a smoother shell (K7.2228.3A.3). Capitol tapes from about 1982 until about 1990 used the distinctive "futuristic robot font" instead, so this copy belongs to the early 1990s reissues, at the very end of the 4XT series. Some releases also featured a WHITE shell (see K7.2228.6.2), but these were randomly found between 1985 and 1994.

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.

Packaging

Tapes were sold in a black back jewel case, and sealed in either a firm wrap that was folded shut, or a regular heat-tightened shrink wrap.

Both types of wrapper have been verified to be used randomly between 1982 and 1995.