Beatles'65

LP.2228.1.2 is the second mono pressing of Beatles'65 in Canada, appearing in December 1964, within weeks of the first pressing. The record itself is identical to LP.2228.1.1 (same rainbow no brackets label, same USA-supplied plates with stamped matrix numbers); the difference is on the back cover, where the catalogue block at the top right (catalogue number, HIGH FIDELITY RECORDING box and "Also Available in Stereo" notice) has been moved down to sit level with the "Their all new album of all new hits!" tagline.

Availability

This variation was available from late December 1964 until early 1965, when the worn USA plates were replaced by a Canadian-cut master (see LP.2228.1.4). Because the back slick correction happened so early, copies with the lowered catalogue block are much more common than LP.2228.1.1.

General Information

Beatles'65 was the fifth Beatles album released by Capitol of Canada, and the second (after Something New) to match its American counterpart track for track. The album gathers eight songs from the British Beatles For Sale LP, both sides of the I Feel Fine / She's A Woman single, and I'll Be Back, left over from the British A Hard Day's Night album. It was rushed out for the 1964 holiday season, less than two weeks after the British release of Beatles For Sale.

The corrected back slick tells a small story about how quickly Beatles'65 was put together: the album was rushed out for the holiday season and the first print run of the back cover went out with its stereo notice out of place. The reprint fixed the alignment and nothing else.

It is important to note that a new cover variation does not necessarily imply a new set of pressings; new covers could (and most likely did) house records from the same batch of pressings as the previously documented variations. Covers and discs were produced as required, and therefore not necessarily at the same time.

Pressing Information

As with all previous variations, Capitol of Canada subcontracted the RCA pressing plant in Smiths Falls (Ontario) to manufacture this batch of pressings. These copies were the same USA-supplied plates copies (stamped matrix numbers with the triangular IAM logo of the Scranton plant), in the same combinations as LP.2228.1.1:

Side 1: T1-2228-H5 #2  
Side 2: T2-2228-J6  

These pressings feature a 70 mm deep-groove pressing ring, a hallmark of early RCA Canadian manufacture. Labels feature the "no brackets" rainbow label (see perimeter print at the bottom of the label: "MFD. IN CANADA BY CAPITOL RECORDS OF CANADA" with no brackets around the word CANADA).

Cover

The jacket for LP.2228.1.2 is built like its predecessor: the inner seams (the inside fold of the cardboard jacket) are cut straight and measure 10 mm high.

Covers up to the mid 70s used a “front slick” construction (a larger back slick, usually printed in black and white that wrapped around the front of the cardboard cover, onto which a smaller colour front slick was glued, creating a white frame effect all around the front image).

Both slicks were printed by Parr's Print and Litho in Toronto and assembled onto the cardboard frame by Modern Albums.

The back slick was reprinted with the catalogue block moved down: on this variation the T 2228 number, the HIGH FIDELITY RECORDING box and the "Also Available in Stereo" notice sit level with the "Their all new album of all new hits!" tagline, where they stayed on every later cover. On the first print run (LP.2228.1.1) the whole block was printed higher, above the tagline. Both versions are shown below for comparison.

Packaging

These pressings were usually shipped in a loose or tight shrink wrap.

These were sold with / without a red and white Capitol / Pathé paper LP inner sleeve (apparently designed by Paul White).

Sales

Sales records show that 88,352 copies of Beatles'65 sold in Canada in 1964 (variations LP.2228.1.1 and LP.2228.1.2 combined, along with the first stereo copies of LP.2228.1.3), and 53,804 in 1965 (this includes variations LP.2228.1.2, 1.3 and 1.4) (source: P. Hemmingsen, The Beatles’ Canadian Discography part. 3, "Sales of Beatles Records in Canada"). Since the back-slick correction happened within weeks of the release, most of the December 1964 copies are LP.2228.1.2. Over its first four years, Beatles'65 therefore sold a total of 151,152 copies in Canada (1964 to 1967), all formats combined: these Capitol figures are per title, not per format, so from July 1965 they also include the reel-to-reel tape (see RE.2365.1.1). These figures include a mix of mono and stereo copies.